Four French films, directed by Olivier Assayas, Kaouther Ben Hania, Valérie Donzelli, and François Ozon will fly the French colors in Competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival.
Learn all about the presence of French film professionals and Unifrance's activities at this year's festival, which will take place from August 27 to September 6.
The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas, shot with an international cast (Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander), is an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Giuliano Da Empolii, a political thriller set in the corridors of power in Russia in the early 1990s.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, the sixth film by the Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (Four Daughters), a filmmaker who shifts between fiction and documentary, is a fictionalized account of the real-life drama experienced in early 2024 by a six-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car hit by a bomb in the heart of Gaza, who managed to call the Red Cross emergency services.
With The Stranger, François Ozon tackles a monument of French literature, Albert Camus' novel (1942), which was already adapted for the cinema in the 1960s. This time, Benjamin Voisin plays Meursault under the dark sun of interwar Algiers.
Still in an existential vein, and also based on a novel (by Franck Courtès), At Work, Valérie Donzelli's eighth film features a successful photographer (played by Bastien Bouillon) who gives up everything to devote himself to writing and discovers poverty in the process. Or how to pay the high price of freedom...
While Olivier Assayas and François Ozon are Lido "regulars," each with three previous selections in Competition—Wasp Network (2019), Non-Fiction (2018), and Something in the Air (2012, Best Screenplay) for Olivier Assayas, and Frantz (2015, Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress for Paula Beer), Potiche (2010), and 5x2 (2004) for François Ozon—this will be the first time that Valérie Donzelli and Kaouther Ben Hania have had works in Competition at the prestigious Italian festival. Kaouther Ben Hania did however present The Man Who Sold His Skin in the Orizzonti strand in 2020.
Three other (minority-) French coproductions feature in Competition, directed by Jim Jarmusch (Father Mother Sister Brother), László Nemes (Orphan), and Ildiko Enyedi—who works once again with Léa Seydoux in Silent Friend.
Out of Competition features Dog 51, the latest film by Cédric Jimenez, a futurist thriller and adaptation of the novel by Laurent Gaudé, starring Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Louis Garrel in the leading roles, as well as, unusually, three series produced or co-produced by France, including A Prophet, which follows the character of Malik revealed in Jacques Audiard's film (2009), as well as Etty, created by renowned showrunner Hagai Levi, which traces the inner journey of Dutch Jewish writer Etty Hillesum between 1941 and 1943. The new film by Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, Landmarks, completes the French presence Out of Competition.
Finally, to round off the official selection for feature films, seven French co-productions will be presented in the Orizzonti section, including the majority-French production The Site, starring Damien Bonnard in a social thriller set on a construction site in a futuristic neighborhood.
The soul of French cinema will also be present in Venice with Stéphane Brizé (a member of the Competition jury), Julia Ducournau (a member of the Orizzonti jury), and Erige Sehiri (a member of the Luigi de Laurentiis Award jury).
--> The full Venice Film Festival line-up can be found here
Unifrance at the Venice Film Festival
Club Unifrance
Unifrance will establish Club Unifrance, a space dedicated to hosting the French production teams of films selected for the festival for their meetings with the international press and to record interviews. This initiative, launched at the latest Berlinale this February, is intended to amplify media coverage of French films. It has been made possible thanks to increased support from the CNC for 2025 and the Unifrance Endowment Fund.
Unifrance will also host a Business Mixer cocktail party at Club Unifrance on Friday, 29 August, from 6 to 8 p.m., to celebrate French works and talent, and enable French and international professionals to meet in a convivial setting.
Unifrance's 2025 10 to Watch group at the Venice Film Festival, with the support of Ami Paris
For the first time, Unifrance is organizing, with the collaboration of the Venice Film Festival teams and the invaluable support of Ami Paris, a trip for some of the 2025 members of the 10 to Watch to this major event. The program includes an official red carpet event and meetings with professionals, artists, and journalists in attendance.
Venice Immersive
Unifrance will be present on the Immersive Isola with a stand where French cinema professionals can organize their meetings.
On Saturday, August 30, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Spazio Incontri Immersivo, located on the Immersive Isola, Unifrance will organize a panel discussion entitled “A Close Look at the French XR Industry.”
On this occasion, the Ambassadeur de France in Italy Martin Briens and the audiovisuel attaché Rémi Guittet will announce the new recipient of the XR Farnese-Medici Residency.
News about the NewImages festival will be provided by its director Michele Ziegler and its head of partnerships and production Sarah Arnaud.
Last but not least, Unifrance will exclusively reveal the results of its annual study on the international export of French immersive works. The figures for 2024 will be announced and discussed with two representatives from PXN: Marie Point (producer at Dark Euphoria) and Emanuela Righi (producer at Novaya).
The artistic delegation representing French cinema
The following professionals are already expected to attend (subject to change): Valérie Donzelli, Michel Gondry, Bastien Bouillon, François Ozon, Rebecca Marder, Benjamin Voisin, Olivier Assayas, Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Jeffrey Wright, Tom Sturridge, Kaouther Ben Hania, Cédric Jimenez, Olivier Demangel, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Gilles Lellouche, Louis Garrel, Stéphane Bak, Thomas Bangalter, László Nemes, Grégory Gadebois, Ildiko Enyedi, Léa Seydoux, Tony Leung, Vladlena Sandu, Lana Daher, Claire Simon, Annie Ernaux, Enrico Maria Artale, Mamadou Sidibe, Sami Bouajila, Caroline Deruas Peano, Lena Garrel, Louiza Aura, Maryam Touzani, Carmen Maura...
Semaine de la Critique
For the third consecutive year, the Critics' Week—which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year—will open with a French film. The honor goes to Stereo Girls, Caroline Deruas Peano's second feature film, a story of female friendship and coming of age in the south of France in the 1990s. Also in the selection, Semaine audiences will be able to discover Roqia, Yanis Koussim's debut feature, which he describes as a horror film in which memory, and memory loss, play a prominent role.
--> The full Semaine de la Critique line-up can be found here
Giornate degli Autori
The youngest of Venice's sidebar strands, Giornate degli Autori will present three French films (or majority-French productions) at its 22nd edition: Writing Life - Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes Of High School Students, which Claire Simon has dedicated to the writer and Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux, Laguna, the new film by Lithuanian filmmaker Sharunas Bartas, and Memory, by Chechen-Ukrainian filmmaker Vladlena Sandu, which will open the strand.
--> The full Giornate degli Autori line-up can be found here.
All the French films (and French co-productions) presented
At the 2025 Venice Film Festival, across all sections
Official Selection
Competition
- The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas
- At Work by Valérie Donzelli
- The Stranger by François Ozon
- The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania
- Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch (minority-French co-production)
- Orphan by László Nemes (minority-French co-production)
- Silent Friend by Ildiko Enyedi (minority-French co-production)
Out of Competition
- Dog 51 by Cédric Jimenez
- A Prophet, series created by Enrico Maria Artale
- Landmarks by Lucrecia Martel (minority-French co-production)
- Portobello, series created by Marco Bellocchio and Stefano Bises
- Etty, series created by Hagai Levi
Orizzonti
- The Site by Akihiro Hata
- Mother by Teona Strugar Mitevska (minority-French co-production)
- Milk Teeth by Mihai Mincan (minority-French co-production)
- Divine Comedy by Ali Asgari (minority-French co-production)
- Lost Land by Akio Fujimoto (minority-French co-production)
- The Ivy by Ana Cristina Barragán (minority-French co-production)
- Une année italienne by Laura Samani (minority-French co-production)
Venezia Classici
Spotlight
- Calle Malaga by Maryam Touzani
- Silent Rebellion by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (minority-French co-production)
Short Films - Official Selection Out of Competition
Short Films - Orizzonti
- I Hear it Still by Constance Bonnot
- Unavailabe by Kyrylo Zemlyanyi
- Coyotes by Said Zagha
- The Lifeline by Hugo Becker
Immersive Works - Official Competition
- Eddie and I by Maya Shekel
- Less Than 5gr of Saffron by Negar Motevalymeidanshah
- The Exploding Girl VR by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel
- Heartbeat - Son coeur a trouvé sa cadence dans le silence des rencontres by Fanny Fortage
- Danse Danse Danse - Matisse by Gordon and Agnès Molia
- Sense of Nowhere by Hsin‑hsuan Yeh
- The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody by Nicolas Bourniquel
- La Magie Opéra by Jonathan Astruc
- The Shadow by Blanca Li
- Collective Body by Sarah Silverblatt‑buser
Immersive Works - Out of Competition
- One True Path by Balthazar Auxietre
- Lili by Navid Khonsari
- D-Day: The Camera Soldier by Chloé Rochereuil
Semaine de la Critique
Opening Film
Official Selection
- Roqia by Yanis Koussim
- Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani (minority-French co-production)
- Gorgonà by Evi Kalogiropoulou (minority-French co-production)
- Agon by Giulio Bertelli (minority-French co-production)
Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days
Official Selection
- Writing Life - Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes Of High School Students by Claire Simon
- Laguna by Sharunas Bartas
- Memory by Vladlena Sandu
- Do You Love Me by Lana Daher (minority-French co-production)
- Who Is Still Alive? by Nicolas Wadimoff (minority-French co-production)
- Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t by Gianni Di Gregorio (minority-French co-production)
- Short Summer by Nastia Korkia (minority-French co-production)
Media Gallery
© Laura Stevens / Unifrance
© Laura Stevens / Unifrance
