22/07/2025 - Teona Strugar Mitevska and Laura Samani selected in competition; Stephan Komandarev and Daniele Vicari selected in the Venice Spotlight section, formerly known as Orizzonti Extra

Announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera, the titles selected in the Orizzonti competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival (27 August - 6 September - read the news about the titles in competition and out of competition) are 19 in total. Opening the section is Mother by Teona Strugar Mitevska (already in the same section with her previous film, The Happiest Man in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile]), an unconventional portrait of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, played by Noomi Rapace, the fruit of more than 15 years of work to find the truth about that character full of contradictions.

Two Italian films are in competition in Orizzonti. One is Il rapimento di Arabella, the anticipated second film by Carolina Cavalli (selected in Orizzonti Extra 2022 with Amanda [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedetta Porcaroli
film profile]), still with Benedetta Porcaroli in the lead; the other is Un anno di scuola by Laura Samani, another highly anticipated second feature by the Trieste filmmaker following the success of Small Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Samani
film profile] (Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and David di Donatello for Best Debut Filmmaker in 2022), a modern-day transposition of the homonymous novel by Giani Stuparich.

Strange River, on the other hand, is a debut feature by Basque director Jaume Claret Muxart, a coming-of-age film about a teenager on holiday with his family on the German banks of the Danube, where he discovers himself and his sexuality. Another first feature is the French production Grand ciel by Akihiro Hata, a filmmaker of Japanese origins who creates, according to the artistic director, “a strange combination of elements of social and science-fiction cinema”.

Also in the sci-fi genre is Rose of Nevada, by English auteur Mark Jenkin (Bait [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mark Jenkin
film profile], Enys Men [+see also:
film review
interview: Mark Jenkin
film profile]), a dive in the realistic context of a small fishing village in Cornwall and starring George MacKay and Callum Turner. The second feature by Mihai Mincan, a filmmaker who has already distinguished himself in Orizzonti with To the North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile], Milk Teeth is set a little before the fall of Ceaușescu and recreates the climate of oppression of the regime starting from the disappearance of a little girl. Father, meanwhile, is the third film by Teresa Nvotová (awarded in Locarno in 2022 for Nightsiren [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tereza Nvotová
film profile]), “a dramatic tale with an unexpected narrative shift”, Barbera stated.

Returning to Orizzonti, where he was in competition in 2013 with his debut feature La vida después, is Mexican filmmaker David Pablos, who in his fourth feature tells an original love story set in the world of truck drivers and drug smugglers in the most violent part of Mexico. Also back in Orizzonti is Argentinian filmmaker Gastón Solnicki with The Souffleur, between fiction and documentary, with Willem Dafoe playing the director of an historic hotel fighting to avoid the closure decided by his new landlords. Divine Comedy is the new film by Ali Asgari, in which the Iranian director (already in Orizzonti in 2017 with Disappearance) reflects through the comedy genre, “and in a very enjoyable way” according to Barbera, on what it means to be an Iranian artist today, between censorship, bureaucracy and surveillance.

Finally, Hiedra is the third film by Ecuadorian filmmaker Ana Cristina Barragán (Alba [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), and tells the story of a mother looking for the son she had abandoned soon after his birth. Lost Land, the third film by Japanese director Akio Fujimoto (Along the Sea), follows the adventures of two children belonging to the Rohingya minority, forced to flee Myanmar with their family, a film that “begins almost like a documentary, but also takes on an almost fable-like dimension”. Funeral Casino Blues by Roderick Warich (co-writer of The Universal Theory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Timm Kröger
film profile]) is a sentimental melodrama, but also a social film which pays homage to ghost movies, set in Bangkok.

The selection is rounded off by US title Late Fame by Kent Jones, also starring Willem Dafoe, the Colombian-US co-production Barrio triste by Stillz, Argentina's Pin de fartie by Alejo Moguillansky, and India's Songs of Forgotten Trees by Anuparna Roy.

Among the titles in the Venezia Spotlight section (formerly known as Orizzonti Extra), the winner of which will be selected by the audience,  il cui vincitore sarà decretato dal pubblico, Made in EU by Bulgarian filmmaker Stephan Komandarev (Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary with his previous film Blaga’s Lessons [+see also:
film review
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile]) stands out, a film inspired by a true story with the Covid pandemic as its background and set in a mining town; and Calle Málaga by Maryam Touzani (Adam [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], The Blue Caftan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) is a comedy starring Carmen Maura as a woman who, in Tangier’s Spanish quarter, finds herself evicted from her apartment by her daughter. À bras-le-corps, the debut feature by Swiss filmmaker Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who, on the backdrop of the Second World War, discovers that she is pregnant after a rape. Also worth noting are Hiram by Shahad Ameen and Un cabo suelto by Daniel Hendler: the former is a road movie through Saudi Arabia and the second a comedy centred on a Uruguayan policeman fleeing his country. Finally, the new film by Daniele Vicari (Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniele Vicari
film profile]), Ammazzare stanca, tells the true story of Antonio Zagari, the son of a boss of the 'ndrangheta mafia group who decided to rebel.

The selected films:

Orizzonti

Mother - Teona Strugar Mitevska (opening film)
Divine Comedy - Ali Asgari
Hiedra - Ana Cristina Barragán
Il rapimento di Arabella - Carolina Cavalli
Estrany riu - Jaume Claret Muxart
Lost Land - Akio Fujimoto
Grand ciel - Akihiro Hata
Rose of Nevada - Mark Jenkin
Late Fame - Kent Jones
Milk Teeth - Mihai Mincan
Pin de fartie - Alejo Moguillansky
Father - Tereza Nvotová
En el camino - David Pablos
Songs of Forgotten Trees - Anuparna Roy
Un anno di scuola - Laura Samani
The Souffleur - Gastón Solnicki
Barrio triste - Stillz
Human Resource - Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Funeral Casino Blues - Roderick Warich

Venice Spotlight

Hijra - Shahad Ameen
Un cabo suelto - Daniel Hendler
Made in EU - Stephan Komandarev
Motor City - Potsy Ponciroli
La hija de la española - Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugas
À bras-le-corps - Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
Calle Málaga - Maryam Touzani
Ammazzare stanca - Daniele Vicari

(Translated from Italian)