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Venice Film Festival 2025: What to expect from the 82nd edition?
An honorary Golden Lion for actress Kim Novak and director Werner Herzog, the controversial appointment of Alexander Payne as president of the jury, and Paolo Sorrentino’s latest feature film opening the festival… As the 82nd Venice Film Festival is taking shape behind closed doors, Numéro takes a look at everything we know so far.
par Jordan Bako,
et Violaine Schütz.
Published on 7 September 2025. Updated on 15 September 2025.
A few months prior to the awards season across the Atlantic, the Venice International Film Festival is preparing to honour the crème de la crème of cinema worldwide.
Alongside the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlinale, the festival has become a prestigious stepping stone to the Oscars. Exceptional premieres are held on the banks of the Italian lagoon. As the 82nd Venice Film Festival will to take place from August 27th to September 6th, 2025, Numéro shares the latest news about the event.
Kim Novak to receive an honorary Golden Lion
Swept-back blonde hair, crystal-clear gaze, and huge talent… Actress Kim Novak has left a lasting impression, even though her acting career was brief. After completing high school, she was discovered by the all-powerful head of Columbia Studios, Harry Cohn. While he intended to make her Marilyn Monroe’s rival, Kim Novak ultimately shone in her own right. She earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Actress for Picnic (1955), before lighting up Alfred Hitchcock’s feature film Vertigo (1958).
A rebellious at her core, Kim Novak refused to bend to the colossal expectations of Hollywood moguls. She demanded fair compensation for her work and negotiated her pay without ever losing sight of her first calling – visual arts. As Hollywood reached its golden age in the 1960s, the actress gradually stepped away from film sets, where she was relentlessly reduced to her sex symbol image.
The film industry has since begun to rehabilitate Kim Novak’s legacy, starting with an honorary Golden Bear at the 1977 Berlinale. A biopic recounting her romance with musician Sammy Davis Jr. is currently in the works. It will star Sydney Sweeney and David Jonsson in the lead roles. At 91, Kim Novak has now retired to a ranch in the heart of Oregon. The actress will receive an honorary Golden Lion for her entire career at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, alongside German director Werner Herzog.
Alexander Payne, president of the jury at the 2025 Venice Film Festival
Kim Novak and Werner Herzog will receive their awards from American filmmaker Alexander Payne (Nebraska, The Holdovers). The latter will be this year’s president of the jury. Following in the footsteps of actress Isabelle Huppert, the director is taking on this role for the first time in his career. This marks Alexander Payne’s return to the Lagoon eight years after presenting his sci-fi comedy Downsizing there.
However, his appointment has sparked controversy. In 2020, actress Rose McGowan accused him of sexual assault, which allegedly occurred when she was just 15 years old. Although the director denied the allegations, the decision of the festival’s organizing committee to appoint him president of the has caused a stir. In particular at a time when the #MeToo movement continues (and rightly so) to shake up in the film industry…
Stéphane Brizé and Julia Ducournau as jury members
To complete the jury of this 82nd edition of the festival, we can count on French filmmaker Stéphane Brizé (The Measure of a Man), Romanian director Cristian Mungiu and Italian film director Maura Delpero.
Paolo Sorrentino to open the festival with La Grazia
A four-time award winner at previous editions of the Venice Film Festival, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino will kick off this year’s festivities. His twelfth feature film, La Grazia, will be the opening feature. Last year’s opener was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega.
While his latest film, the dreamlike Parthenope, somewhat disappointed us with its outdated narrative, his new work could be the big comeback of the director of The Great Beauty (2013) and The Hand of God (2021). The film will once again feature Sorrentino’s longtime collaborator Toni Servillo, as well as actress Anna Ferzatti.
Luca Guadagnino and Yorgos Lanthimos will attend the 2025 Venice Film Festival
Now that it’s confirmed that Paolo Sorrentino will open the festival with La Grazia, the official selection for the 2025 Venice Film Festival has just been unveiled.
Online favorites? Luca Guadagnino’s thriller After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield. Indeed, the Lombard director has made Venice one of his favourite playground with his recent releases Bones and All (2022) and Queer (2024) there. His new feature will premiere in the official selection in September.
The festival’s organizing committee has also scheduled works from past Golden Lion winners. Yórgos Lánthimos will present the highly-anticipated Bugonia starring Emma Stone and Guillermo del Toro is expected to unveil his new film Frankenstein, starring Jacob Elordi.
Chien 51 with Adèle Exarchopoulos will close the festival
American filmmaker Gus Van Sant is making a comeback to the silver screen with Dead Man’s Wire, a drama about a heist starring Bill Skarsgård. On this occasion, the director, renowned for My Own Private Idaho (1991) and Elephant (2003), will receive the Campari Passion for Film Award for his entire career.
Actor Jude Law will step into the shoes of the controversial political figure Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin, Olivier Assayas‘s new film competing for the Golden Lion.
Cate Blanchett and Jim Jarmusch are also set to make waves in Venice with their competition entry Father Mother Sister Brother, co-produced by Saint Laurent. Meanwhile, Valérie Donzelli (At Work), François Ozon (The Stranger), and Park Chan-wook (No Other Choice) are among other serious contenders for the Golden Lion… The big winners will be unveiled on September 6th, 2025, on the closing date of the festival.
Official selection of the 2025 Venice Film Festival
Opening and closing films of the festival
La Grazia by Paolo Sorrentino (opening film).
Chien 51 by Cédric Jiménez (closing film).
Full competition lineup
- The Wizard of Kremlin by Olivier Assayas
- Jay Kelly by Noah Baumbach
- The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania
- A House of Dynamite by Kathryn Bigelow
- The Sun Rises on Us All by Cai Shangjun
- Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro
- Elisa by Leonardo Di Costanzo
- At Work by Valérie Donzelli
- Silent Friend by Ildikó Enyedi
- The Testament of Ann Lee by Mona Fastvold
- Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch
- Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos
- Duse by Pietro Marcello
- Un film fatto per bene by Franco Maresco
- Orphan by László Nemes
- The Stranger by François Ozon
- No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook
- Sotto le nuvole by Gianfranco Rosi
- The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie
- Girl by Shu Qi
Out-of-competition lineup
- Sermon to the Void by Hilal Baydarov
- L’isola di Andrea by Antonio Capuano
- Il maestro by Andrea Di Stefano
- After the Hunt by Luca Guadagnino
- Marc by Sofia by Sofia Coppola
- Scarlet by Mamoru Hosoda
- The Last Viking by Anders Thomas Jensen
- In the Hand of Dante by Julian Schnabel
- La valle dei sorrisi by Paolo Strippoli
- Dead Man’s Wire by Gus Van Sant
- Orfeo by Virgilio Villoresi
The 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place from August 27th to September 6th, 2025.
