04/07/2025 - The new film by the Oscar-winning helmer, toplined by Toni Servillo and Anna Ferzetti, will be world-premiered in competition

La grazia, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, will be the opening film of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (27 August-6 September). The new work by the Neapolitan director, who won an Oscar for The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile], will be presented in competition. The film stars Toni Servillo (marking their seventh feature together) and Anna Ferzetti (popular in the recent title The Negotiator [+see also:
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“I am very happy that the 82nd Venice International Film Festival will open with the new and highly anticipated film by Paolo Sorrentino,” stated artistic director Alberto Barbera. “I like to recall that one of the most important and internationally acclaimed Italian auteurs made his debut right here at the Biennale di Venezia in 2001 with his first film, One Man Up [+see also:
trailer
film profile], in my early years as artistic director. The relationship with the Venice Film Festival became consolidated over the years with the presentation out of competition of the first episodes in the series The Young Pope (seasons one and two) and, above all, with The Hand of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile], which, in 2021, won the Silver Lion-Grand Jury Prize. Paolo Sorrentino’s return in competition comes with a film destined to leave its mark for its great originality and powerful relevance to the present time, which the audiences of the Venice Film Festival will have the pleasure of discovering on the opening night.”

Talking about his new film at the Giornate Professionali event in Sorrento, the director revealed: “For the last 20 years, Toni Servillo and I have been talking about making a romantic film. Now, the time has come, except that I don’t want to suddenly shift from Fellini to Truffaut. But Toni and I have finally found the right tone with which to convey love on the big screen.”

La grazia is being produced by The Apartment (a Fremantle Group company), Numero 10 and PiperFilm, which will distribute the film in Italy. MUBI holds the worldwide rights for the movie. The Match Factory is overseeing its international sales. The film will be presented as a world premiere on Wednesday 27 August in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande (on the Lido).

(Translated from Italian)