Venice Critics’ Week, the sidebar section of the Venice Film Festival, unveiled its lineup on Monday, revealing the opening and closing films as well as the seven-title competition.
The section runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.
Stereo Girls, a 1990s-set drama from Caroline Deruas Peano about the relationship of two 17-year-old girls, will open Venice Critics’ Week, screening out of competition. Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, a “feminist fairy tale” starring Emma Corrin, Charli XCX, Maika Monroe, Nicholas Galitzine, Richard E. Grant, Amir El-Masry, and Felicity Jones, will close the sidebar.
The 2025 competition lineup also includes Giulio Bertelli’s Agon, a drama centered around female althetes competing in fictional Olympics; Straight Circle, a dark comedy centered on two soldiers in an isolated barracks, and the feature debut of music video director Oscar Hudson; and Ish from Imran Perretta, which explores the lasting impact of a tramautic, on two 12-year-old boys, of a police stop and search.
The Venice main competition lineup will be announced on Tuesday. Two-time Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne (The Holdovers, Sideways, Nebraska) will head up its jury as president. He will be joined by Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof, French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé (At War), Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero (Vermiglio), Palme d’Or winning Romanian director Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Chinese actress Zhao Tao (Ash Is the Purest White)
Check out the full Venice Critics’ Week program below.
Venice Critics’ Week
Competition
Agon, Giulio Bertelli (Italy, U.S., France)
Cotton Queen, Suzannah Mirghani (Germany, France, Palestine, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Gorgonà, Evi Kologiropoulu (Greece, France)
Ish, Imran Perretta (U.K.)
Roqia, Yanis Koussim (Algeria, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Straight Circle, Oscar Hudson (U.K.)
Waking Hours, Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini (Italy)
Out Of Competition
Opening Film: Stereo Girls, Caroline Deruas Peano (France, Canada)
Closing Film: 100 Nights of Hero, Julia Jackman (U.K.)