The author with her colleagues from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the “Frankenstein” pre-premiere party in Venice

A Look Back at the 2025 Venice Film Festival

BY JANET SUSAN R. NEPALES

In our 16th year of attending the Venice Film Festival, the magic and glamour still excite us as much as they did the first time.

Now in its 82nd year, the festival, held in Lido, Venice, Italy, continues to attract Hollywood A-listers and celebrities either as part of the competition or as guests.

The whirlwind of screenings, premieres, red carpets and after-parties has made this festival one of the most sought-after and well-attended international events.

George Clooney and Amal Clooney, hand in hand on the red carpet, were among the first to arrive for George’s world premiere of his comedy-drama “Jay Kelly,” which also stars Adam Sandler, Laura Dern and Billy Crudup. Emma Stone and her “Bugonia” co-stars Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis joined hands with director Yorgos Lanthimos on day two of the festival as they premiered their black comedy thriller for the Sala Grande audience.

People were shocked and bewildered when the Alexander Payne-led jury chose Jim Jarmusch’s comedy-drama anthology “Father Mother Sister Brother,” starring Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver, which ran away with the Golden Lion top award. The crowd and press favorite, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” ended up with the runner-up Silver Lion.

The South Korean satirical black comedy thriller by Park Chan-wook, “No Other Choice,” another Venice favorite, did not win any awards.

At a press conference, jury president Payne said “No Other Choice” unfortunately did not even make it to the final eight (out of 21 films). “We loved many films,” he said. “That’s the unfair thing of being at a festival, is having to say this is better than that. It’s not.”

Other jury members included Brazilian actress and writer Fernanda Torres, Italian director Maura Delpero, Romanian director and producer Cristian Mungiu, Iranian filmmaker and producer Mohammad Rasoulof, and Chinese actor and producer Zhao Tao.

Written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, the docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” follows the story of the killing of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who lived in the Gaza Strip and was killed with her family in their car by the Israel Defense Forces during the Israeli invasion.

It received the longest standing ovation of the festival, lasting 23 minutes.

Before and during the festival, numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations were held, demanding an end to the violence in Gaza. Controversy arose as activist groups urged the festival to disinvite certain artists, but Alberto Barbera, the Venice Film Festival’s artistic director, instead stressed that the Biennale, the organization behind the festival, is a space for dialogue and that the festival would not exclude artists because of their political views. He also expressed sorrow over civilian suffering in Gaza and Palestine.

Amid the political backdrop, the festival also continued to celebrate artistry. Filmmaker Julian Schnabel, known for such films as “At Eternity’s Gate,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and “Basquiat,” was honored with the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award. This year, he brought his star-studded drama “In the Hand of Dante” to the festival. Present were stars Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Louis Cancelmi. Other cast members included Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Martin Scorsese and Franco Nero.

When asked during the press conference for “In the Hand of Dante” about calls to bar certain actors, Schnabel said there was “no reason to boycott artists. I selected those actors for their merits as actors, and they did an extraordinary job in the film and that’s about it. I think we should talk about the movie rather than this issue.”

Seth Rogen made surprise appearances throughout the festival. We asked him at “The Smashing Machine” after-party if he was planning to do an episode of the Venice Film Festival for the multi-Emmy-nominated show “The Studio.”

“That would be nice,” Rogen said, adding that this was his first international film festival and part of his “research.”

At “The Smashing Machine” after-party, we also spoke with stars Dwayne Johnson, who was enjoying his first Venice Film Festival, and Emily Blunt. The two actors shared that their confrontational scene in the movie was the most challenging of all.
“It was a very emotional scene for both of us,” Blunt admitted.

At the press conference for “The Smashing Machine,” Blunt was asked if she was surprised that there was actually a woman in the ultra-hyper-masculine wrestling environment where Johnson portrays mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr and Blunt portrays his former wife, Dawn Staples.

“I was delighted that there was a woman in the midst of it, because there was a lot going on behind closed doors of what it means to live with a fighter and the all-consuming world that comes with that,” Blunt said. “I got to know Dawn well and she was very generous with her story with me, the full weather system of it, the regrets, the eruptions, the hazardous nature of the relationship at times, and the deep, profound love and devotion they had to each other amid an impossible environment.”

The film’s director Benny Safdie won the best director award at the festival. Other winners included Chinese actress Xin Zhilei, who won best actress for Cai Shangjun’s “The Sun Rises on Us All”; Italian actor Toni Servillo, who won best actor for the festival’s opening film “La Grazia”; and Swiss actor Luna Wedler, who won the newcomer Marcello Mastroianni Award for “Silent Friend.”

At the “Frankenstein” pre-premiere party, director Guillermo del Toro was besieged by admirers, including Schnabel, who was there for “In the Hand of Dante.” Both films star Oscar Isaac, who portrays Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenstein” and Nick Tosches/Dante Alighieri in “In the Hand of Dante.”

When we congratulated Isaac for having two films in the festival this year, Schnabel proudly commented, “And he is good in both of them!” He even volunteered to take our photo with his star.

At the premiere of “Frankenstein,” which received a 13-minute standing ovation, actor Jacob Elordi, who portrayed the monster, broke down in tears after seeing the warm reception from the Venice audience. Upon exiting the theater, we were pleasantly surprised when Del Toro kissed us on the cheek after we congratulated him.

Also moved and very emotional at the premiere of “The Smashing Machine” was Johnson, who sobbed as his film received a 15-minute standing ovation.

Another film not to be missed was Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear thriller “A House of Dynamite,” which received an 11-minute standing ovation.

This is her first film after an eight-year hiatus. The movie, which stars Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, opens when an unidentified missile is launched at the United States, sparking a race to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

At a press conference for “A House of Dynamite,” Bigelow was asked why it took her so long to follow up on her 2017 film “Detroit” and what made her passionate about making this one.

The filmmaker replied, “I think you’ve kind of answered the question a little bit. It’s passion. I have to be passionate about a subject matter for me. I just don’t know if I’m really a director or not, but I’m absolutely committed to a subject and a story. Then I feel like I can do anything, but I have to really believe in the material. And this, I felt, was so important to get this conversation out there. Then we can begin to evaluate. This is a global issue, like where we are with nuclear weapons. Of course, hope against hope, maybe we reduce the nuclear stockpile someday. But in the meantime, we are really living in a house of dynamite. And so, my interest was to get that information out there.”

From politics to fashion, Sofia Coppola’s documentary on fashion icon Marc Jacobs, “Marc by Sofia,” was also warmly received in Venice with a standing ovation.

In a press conference, the filmmaker said the 97-minute film was simply a “personal portrait” of a friend. It showed the 12 weeks leading up to the Marc Jacobs Spring 2024 show, with Coppola interviewing the designer about his career milestones and highlights.

“It was really a sincere, small project,” Coppola said. “It was really important for me to show Marc as a creative person in his process and I was happy that he felt comfortable around me. I think it’s always important for me to show something genuine, show the person that I love and their real side.”

During the festival, Ross McElwee’s “Remake” also won the Golden Globes Impact Prize for Documentary, presented by the Artemis Rising Foundation.

Jury members included Helen Hoehne, president of the Golden Globes; Regina K. Scully, founder and CEO of the Artemis Rising Foundation; actor-musician Jharrel Jerome; actor Teo Yoo; producer and Impact Partners co-founder Geralyn White Dreyfous; screenwriter Misan Sagay; director Edoardo Ponti; and Danielle Turkov Wilson, founder and CEO of Think-Film Impact Production.