With the curtain fallen on the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the films now face their most important test: the audience. The risk of being ‘invisible’ appears to have been averted, as the winners of the top awards have already secured distribution.
The Golden Lion winner, Jim Jarmusch’s family crisis drama ‘Father Mother Sister Brother,’ is set for release on December 18th by Lucky Red. One of the festival’s most talked-about films, the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize winner ‘La Voce Di Hind Rajab’ by Kaouther Ben Hania, about a girl killed in Gaza during an attack, will be distributed by I Wonder Pictures, with a date to be announced shortly.
Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary on a previously unseen Naples, ‘Sotto Le Nuvole,’ which won the Special Jury Prize, will hit cinemas on September 18th with 01 Distribution.
‘The Smashing Machine,’ Benny Safdie’s biopic of MMA champion Mark Kerr, for which he won the Silver Lion for Best Director, will be released on November 19th by I Wonder Pictures and Unipol Biografilm Collection in collaboration with Wise Picture.
Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘La Grazia,’ featuring a Volpi Cup-winning performance by Toni Servillo for Best Actor, will be in theatres from January 15th with Piperfilm. The melodrama ‘The Sun Rises On Us All’ by Cai Shangjun, which earned Xin Zhilei the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, will be distributed soon by Wanted Cinema.
Valérie Donzelli’s ‘À Pied D’oeuvre,’ which won Best Screenplay for the director and Gilles Marchand, is the story of a real descent into poverty faced by writer Franck Courtes; it will be released soon by Teodora. Ildiko Enyedi’s ‘Silent Friend,’ which won the Mastroianni award for young performer Luna Wedler, will be distributed by Movies Inspired.
Park Chan-wook’s ‘No Other Choice,’ a no-holds-barred war in the workplace, will be released in January by Lucky Red. The three major Netflix films in competition will also see a theatrical window.
Guillermo del Toro’s highly anticipated ‘Frankenstein’ will be in select cinemas from October 22nd before landing on the platform on November 7th. Kathryn Bigelow’s countdown thriller ‘A House Of Dynamite’ will be in cinemas from October 8th and on Netflix from October 24th. The dramedy ‘Jay Kelly’ by Noah Baumbach, starring George Clooney as a crisis-ridden movie star, arrives in theatres on November 19th and on Netflix December 5th.
Other highlights include Antonio Capuano’s out-of-competition film ‘L’isola di Andrea,’ about two parents clashing over custody of their son, arriving October 2nd with Europictures. Luca Guadagnino’s #metoo-themed ‘After The Hunt,’ starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, will be released October 16th by Eagle Pictures; the same distributor will release the animated fantasy ‘Scarlet’ by Mamoru Hosoda in 2026.
Daniele Vicari’s ‘Ammazzare stanca,’ based on the autobiography of a ‘ndrangheta boss’s killer son, is set for release on December 4th with 01 Distribution. Carolina Cavalli’s road movie/dramedy ‘Il rapimento di Arabella,’ which earned Benedetta Porcaroli the Best Actress award in the Horizons section, will be released December 4th by PiperFilm. Laura Samani’s ‘Un anno di scuola,’ for which Giacomo Covi won Best Actor in the same section, will be in theatres soon with Lucky Red.
The festival also featured documentary portraits of three Italian music artists, which will be distributed by Nexo studios after their Lido debut: ‘Francesco De Gregori. Nevergreen’ by Stefano Pistolini (in cinemas September 11-17); ‘Piero Pelù. Rumore Dentro’ by Francesco Fei (in cinemas November 10-12); and ‘Nino. 18 Giorni’ by Toni D’Angelo (in cinemas from November 20th).
Finally, the debut has already occurred for several other Italian entries, including Franco Maresco’s diary/invective ‘Un film fatto per Bene’ (Lucky Red), Leonardo di Costanzo’s journey into a murderer’s mind in ‘Elisa’ (01 Distribution), and Gianni Di Gregorio’s delicate family comedy ‘Come ti muovi sbagli’ (Fandango).