The magic of cinema returns to the Lido with the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, taking place from August 27 to September 6, 2025.
The Venice Film Festival will open on Wednesday, August 27 in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema), with actress and author Emanuela Fanelli as host of both the opening and closing ceremonies. On September 6, she will also preside over the highly anticipated awards night, when the Golden Lions and other official prizes will be announced.
This year, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement celebrates two towering figures of cinema: German director Werner Herzog, an innovator of New German Cinema who blurred the line between fiction and documentary, and American screen legend Kim Novak, immortalized in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a role that defined an era of Hollywood glamour.
The festival will raise its curtain with the world premiere of “La Grazia”, the new film by Academy Award® winner Paolo Sorrentino, starring Toni Servillo and Anna Ferzetti, presented In Competition.
As a prelude, on August 26, the Venice Architecture Biennale will enrich the Sala Darsena program with special screenings: “Origin”, a 30-minute film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, offering a poetic reflection on the Venice lagoon, followed by a restored version of Erich von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly (1929) with live music by the Syntax Ensemble.
With its blend of premieres, tributes, and rediscoveries, the 82nd Venice Film Festival promises to once again make Venice the beating heart of world cinema.
Website: www.labiennale.org
Location: Lido di Venezia, Venice
Schedule: August 27 – September 6, 2025
