Venice Critics’ Week, the sidebar dedicated to first-time filmmakers, unveiled the selection of seven competition features and two out-of-competition titles for its 39th edition, which runs Aug. 28-Sept. 7.
Among the more timely entries is from U.S. director Michael Premo.
The documentary follows three far-right activists as they campaign for Donald Trump during the tumultuous 2020 election. U.S-French filmmaker Alexandra Simpson makes her Venice debut with , a drama set against the backdrop of a Florida coastal town in the lead-up to a hurricane.
Other Venice Critics’ Week competition highlights include , from UK-French director Jethro Massey, about an American photographer and a French girl who bond over a dark game involving the reenactment of notorious crimes at their original locations; , from Iranian-Italian director Milad Tangshir, a modern-day immigrant story inspired by Italian neorealist classic ; and , a female-focused drama from Vietnamese filmmaker Dương Diệu Linh, about a woman who enlists a spell master to win back her unfaithful husband after discovering his infidelity on live television. Venice Critics’ Week will kick off with the out-of-competition screening of French director Aude Léa Rapin’s , a cyberpunk sci-fi film featuring Adèle Exarchopoulos ( ), and close with Lawrence Valin’s , a drama set in Paris’ Tamil community. Critics’ Week artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino noted that this year’s selection addresses current glob.