The 40th Venice International Film Critics’ Week (SIC), running parallel to the Venice Film Festival from August 27 to September 6, has selected seven debut features for competition. Among them are Giulio Bertelli’s “Agon” and Federico Cammarata-Filippo Foscarini’s “Ore di Veglia” (Waking Hours).
Co-produced by Italy, France, and the US, “Agon” stars Yile Vianello, Alice Bellandi, and Sofjia Zobina as three athletes training for the fictional Ludoj 2024 Olympics in shooting, fencing, and judo. The film examines their political, social, technological, and physical realities while drawing inspiration from historical figures Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Russian cavalry officer Nadezhda Durova. Its synopsis describes an exploration of “contemporary contradictions within these three sports.” SIC delegate Beatrice Fiorentino noted in a video statement that “vaguely dystopian atmospheres frame the spectator-free games, creating a paradox between ideals of brotherhood and competitive brutality.”
The documentary “Waking Hours” immerses viewers in a forest bordering Europe, where a metal wall demarcates the frontier. It follows a clan of Afghan passeurs awaiting migrants to smuggle across the boundary, wandering through a labyrinth of perpetual, sleepless night. Fiorentino characterizes the work as “a rigorous, immersive piece that transforms the margin into vision, staging the border as a control device and the night as suspended time.”
Marking its 40th edition, Critics’ Week also celebrates the 10th anniversary of its Sic@sic short film competition. Fiorentino emphasized this “dual anniversary renews our focus on cinema’s present and future rather than indulging nostalgia. Every selected film confronts the tensions of our era.”
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