Alice Diop, Romain Gavras, Roschdy Zem, and Rebecca Zlotowski will represent France in the Competition of the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which boasts a strong lineup of French titles across its various strands and during which Catherine Deneuve will receive a Golden Lion. Find out more about the French presence and Unifrance's activities at this year's edition, which will take place from August 31 through September 10.
This Competition in Venice will be a first for the four directors whose films have been selected – even though Rebecca Zlotowski presented Planetarium there Out of Competition in 2016.
Four films that all revolve around the notion of family, how it sometimes implodes, how it often survives.
Other People's Children, by Rebecca Zlotowski, features Virginie Efira and Roschdy Zem in a tale about a blended famiy.
Actor-director Zem will also be in Venice to present his own film, Our Ties, whose protagonist is a man whose family life is turned upside down after an accident.
Athena, by Romain Gavras, produced by Netflix, is an urban thriller about siblings who are devastated after one of them dies.
Rounding off the French titles in Competition, Saint Omer, the debut fiction feature by Alice Diop, takes as its starting point a real-life incident and recounts the story of a young woman who drowned her little girl on a beach in the English Channel.
Three other minority-French coproductions will also be presented in Competition and are in the running for the Golden Lion: L'Immensita by Emanuele Crialese, Love Life by Koji Fukada, and A Couple by Frederick Wiseman.
In the Orizzonti section, Jean-Paul Salomé will attend the festival to present his latest feature, The Sitting Duck, which allowed him to work again with Isabelle Huppert, who starred in Salomé's Mama Weed. Six years after presenting Orchestra Class Out of Competition, Rachid Hami returns to Venice with his second feature, For My Country.
Meanwhile, in Orizzonti Extra, Sébastien Marnier (whose School's Out had its world premiere in the Sconfini strand in 2018, which has now been replaced by Orizzonti Extra) will present his third feature, The Origin of Evil.
More information about the French titles selected for Semaine de la Critique and Giornate degli Autori can be found below.
Click here for more details about French VR in the Venice Immersive sidebar.
The French presence in the juries and the awards
While Catherine Deneuve will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, we should also mention the presence of Audrey Diwan in the Official Jury and Céline Sciamma, who is the president of the Giornate degli Autori Jury. French journalist Edouard Waintrop (formerly Artistic Director of Directors' Fortnight) will be part of the Orizzonti Jury, and producer Rosalie Varda is a member of the Luigi de Laurentiis Venice Award for a Debut Film Jury.
The French artistic delegation
The following French artists are already expected to attend this year's edition (subject to change): Isabelle Huppert, Marina Foïs, Dominique Blanc, Jacques Weber, Romain Gavras, Jean-Paul Salomé, Rebecca Zlotowskii, Roschdy Zem, Virginie Efira, Swann Arlaud, Ladj Ly, Alice Diop, Doria Tillier, Laure Calamy, Sébastien Marnier, Anthony Bajon, Alexis Manenti, Dominique Blanc, Grégory Gadebois, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Sébastien Lifshitz, Pablo Pauly, Wissam Charaf, Fyzal Boulifa, Antoine Reinartz...
Unifrance in Venice 2022
Unifrance is a partner for the first time of the Venice Production Bridge, which honors France as a guest country and presents, with the support of Unifrance:
- 12 French feature projects in Gap Financing, including two specially selected for the focus – out of 33 projects in total
- Six French immersive projects in Gap Financing, including two specially selected for the focus – out of 16 projects in total
- Six French projects in Final Cut, including two specially selected for the focus (one fiction, one documentary) – out of eight projects in total
Two round tables have been organized to highlight the excellence of French cinema professional's expertise and of immersive creation:
- Friday, September 2 at 4.15 pm on Venice Immersive Island, a round table focusing on international distribution of French immersive works, with Marie Blondiaux (Red Corner), Voyelle Acker (Small), Danielle Giroux (Astrea), moderated by Mathieu Gayet (XR Must): “How to Think XR Distribution Strategies From an Early Stage: French Experts' Perspectives”
Unifrance will also present for the first time the figures for XR exports in 2021 during this event.
- Saturday, September 3 at the Excelsior, a round table about the international strategies adopted by a new generation of French producers, with Katia Khazak (Aurora Films), Madeline Robert (Les films de la Caravane), Nelson Ghrénassia (Yukunkun Productions), and Justin Pechberty (Les Valseurs): "Focus on French Producers: Renewing International (Co)Production and Promotion Strategies in 2022"
Both panels will be filmed and broadcast live online on the VPB website. LINK
Also in this context, and with the support of the Ambassade de France in Italy, Unifrance is cohosting the Venice Immersive Island opening cocktail, "Meet the French Creators," which will be held on Wednesday, September 1. Unifrance also enables, in partnership with the XR Farnese-Medicis Residence, the first resident, Boris Labbé, selected for his project Mono no aware (Sacrebleu Productions), to be invited to Venice to participate in VPB activities.
On Venice Immersive Island, Unifrance will have a corner dedicated to meetings of French professionals and to the promotion of our immersive works, where the VR Immersive Experiences catalog, published by the Institut français, will be given a spotlight.
Unifrance is also organizing a second focus on France, in partnership with Cinecittà, the Italian Ministry of Culture, and Anica (the organization that brings together most of Italian film and audiovisual professionals). On Thursday, September 1, in the Italian Pavilion, Unifrance will hold a morning of discussions on the situation in France and Italy in the production, distribution, and exhibition sectors, in the presence of French and Italian professionals and institutions.
Another discussion will bring together Italian and French producers, as well as the CNC and the film department of the Italian Ministry of Culture, to discuss issues and problems related to the fund supporting the coproduction of French-Italian feature films, launched in 2019.
Last but not least, Unifrance will organize, as it does every year, a gala event in honor of the selected French films, to which foreign distributors, in particular, are invited to attend.
All the French films presented at the
79th Venice Film Festival
Competition
- Other People's Children by Rebecca Zlotowski
- Saint Omer by Alice Diop
- Our Ties by Roschdy Zem
- Athena by Romain Gavras
- L'Immensita by Emanuele Crialese (minority-French coproduction)
- Love Life by Koji Fukada (minority-French coproduction)
- A Couple by Frederick Wiseman (coproduction share ratio not provided)
Out of Competition
- When the Waves Are Gone by Lav Diaz (coproduction share ratio not provided)
Orizzonti
- For My Country by Rachid Hami
- The Sitting Duck by Jean-Paul Salomé
- To the North by Mihai Mincan (minority-French coproduction)
- Autobiography by Makbul Mubarak (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
- Blanquita by Fernando Guzzoni (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
Orizzonti Extra
- The Origin of Evil by Sébastien Marnier
- Amanda by Carolina Cavalli (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
- Nezouh by Soudade Kaadan (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
Venezia Classici
- Ragtag by Giuseppe Boccassini
- Godard Cinema by Cyril Leuthy
- Jerry Schatzberg, portrait paysage by Pierre Filmon
Short films – Orizzonti
- Christopher at Sea by Tom CJ Brown
- Nocomodo by Lola Halifa-Legrand
- Snow in September by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Short films – Venice Immersive
- Eternelle Notre-Dame by Guillaume Martini
- All Unsaved Progress Will Be Lost de Mélanie Courtinat
- Ascenders de Jonathan Astruc, Jonathan Tamene
- Fight Back de Céline Tricart
- Mandala - A brief Moment in Time de Thomas Villepoux
- Okawari de Landia Egal, Amaury La Burthe
- Rencontre(s) de Mathias Chelebourg
Short films – Venice VR Out of Competition
--> Click here for the full lineup
Semaine de la Critique 2022
Official Selection
- Beating Sun by Philippe Petit
- Anhell69 by Theo Montoya (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
Opening Film
Closing Film
Special Programs
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Giornate degli Autori 2021
OfficialSelection
- Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf
- The Last Queen by Damien Ounouri, Adila Bendimerad (minority-French coproduction)
- Wolf and Dog by Cláudia Varejão (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
- The Damned Don't Cry de Fyzal Boulifa (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
Special Events
Notti Veneziane
- Kristos, the Last Child by Giulia Amati (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
- Le Favolose by Roberta Torre (French coproduction share ratio not provided)
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Program
Media Gallery
