The 82nd Venice International Film Festival is becoming what Cannes and Berlin did not have the courage to be: a platform of support for Gaza through initiatives promoted by Venice4Palestine (see the news), and a venue for debate on Palestine through a series of widespread, daily initiatives that demonstrate how cinema must return to being an instrument of resistance.

Gaia Furrer opened the Giornate degli Autori with a speech that set the tone for these coming festival days: "Cinema by its nature is never neutral: it chooses what to tell, chooses what and how to show, and adopts a position." The director recalled the war in Ukraine and forgotten conflicts, from Sudan to Syria, and from Myanmar to the genocide in Gaza, emphasising the importance of not getting used to horror and maintaining our capacity for indignation.

A symbolically powerful moment was organised in front of the Oedipus Rex: Nobel Prize for Literature winner Annie Ernaux and director Céline Sciamma came together to read the text "From Venice to Gaza" (watch here), penned during the Cannes Film Festival and updated in light of the dramatic developments in events. The meeting took place on the occasion of the premiere of Claire Simon's documentary about Ernaux, Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students [+lee también:
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At the Critics' House, the Gaza International Festival for Women's Cinema was presented, which will be held from 26-31 October 2025. Founder Ezzedine Al-Shellah explained how the festival will literally rise from the rubble: "We will set up the festival among the tents, in the camps, among the ruins,” using generators for the screenings. The Palestinian festival has already signed a partnership with the Florence Women and Cinema Festival (22-26 October), creating a network of concrete solidarity. The international jury sees the participation of figures like Céline Sciamma and Jasmine Trinca, while Graziella Bildesheim, of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network, is the promoter of the initiative. A crowdfunding campaign is active in order to reach the goal of €10,000, with €1,500 already raised. As Al-Shellah emphasised: "Culture provides psychological support, and strengthens resistance, the will to live and not to surrender."

Following the 30 August demonstration, promoted by Italy's Centri Sociali del Nord-est and dozens of associations (ANPI, Rete No Bavaglio, Mediterranea and others), which many artists and professionals who signed the Venice4Palestine open letter have joined, there will also be a meeting at Isola Edipo on 31 August, on the theme of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) with Israeli anti-Zionist director, producer, writer and activist Eyal Sivan, alongside the coordinators of the BDS France network and PACBI (via connection), and BDS Italy and Artists for Palestine activist Jacopo Crovella (in person).

These first few days have demonstrated that cinema must be much more than entertainment: it is testimony, resistance, hope. As Furrer declared: "Celebrating cinema and art means celebrating life, and illuminating what the world often does not want to or cannot see." The 2025 Venice Film Festival is not just films in competition, but a place of cultural and human mobilisation.