1
1
Venice Film Festival 2025: Sofia Coppola dedicates her first documentary to Marc Jacobs
It’s one of the strongest friendships of the past few decades. Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs, arm in arm in the street, on the front row of fashion shows or on the red carpet. This beautiful relationship will be at the core of the acclaimed American filmmaker’s upcoming feature dedicated to the designer’s career. A first documentary that will be presented at the 2025 Venice Film Festival.
par Camille Bois-Martin.
Published on 1 September 2025. Updated on 15 September 2025.
Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs: a long-standing friendship
There are many iconic and inseparable duos. Yet, the one formed by Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs is among the most genuine. He comes from the world of fashion, she comes from cinema. Two fields with porous boundaries, where key figures often cross paths at Fashion Weeks, in advertising campaigns, or on other special projects. One might think of Jonathan Anderson and Luca Guadagnino, who have often collaborated on the big screen, but rarely outside film sets. Unlike Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs, whose connection dates back to the early 1990s.
The future filmmaker and her mother attended a Perry Ellis fashion show. Marc Jacobs used to the brand’s artistic director at the time. Thanks to her contacts, she managed to sneak backstage. The two started a conversation and formed a bond that would become unbreakable. They shared a taste for music and art, and above all, the same sense of humour, as Sofia Coppola wrote in the introduction to Marc Jacobs Illustrated (Phaidon publishing house, 2019). At the time, they were just young adults, far from being as successful as they are today.
From runway backstages to the Venice Film Festival
Over the following decades, each one of them would forge a brilliant path. He joined the house of Louis Vuitton, which he led for nearly 16 years (from 1997 to 2013), while also founding his eponymous label in 1995. She released her debut feature film The Virgin Suicides, now a cult classic, followed by a string of award-winning movies. Strengthened by their friendship, they occasionally worked together.
The first collaboration was in 2001, when Sofia Coppola posed for Marc Jacobs’s debut fragrance. The campaign was shot by Juergen Teller. Then, ten years later, she directed the ad for his perfume Daisy. Aside from these two projects and many joint appearances on red carpets and social events, their friendship remained largely private… until nnow at least.
Marc Jacobs at the heart of Sofia Coppola’s first documentary
Last July 22th, the news came out that Sofia Coppola’s next feature would be part of the 2025 Venice Film Festival out-of-competition lineup. It is her fourth time in tchat category. The project had remained under wraps for a long time. In fact, the American director has been working on it for over 20 years. It is a documentary about Marc Jacobs’s career but also, and probably above all, about their longstanding friendship.
This marks Sofia Coppola’s first foray into documentary filmmaking. It follows her acclaimed film Priscilla, which was presented at the Venice festival in 2023. From the designer’s early days at Louis Vuitton to his rise to fame, including their ambitions, personal trials, and shared sensibility, the one-hour-and-a-half film promises to be moving and intimate. That’s what its title, Marc by Sofia, hints at… While also serving as a subtle nod to the designer’s former label, Marc by Marc Jacobs.
Marc by Sofia, directed by Sofia Coppola, will be presented at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, from August 27th to September 6th, 2025. Its official release date is unknown yet.
