Forty years of the International Critics’ Week, increasingly a “festival within the festival” and a space for contemporary cinematic exploration. This edition marks a double anniversary, with ten years of SIC@SIC, affirming criticism as an ever-stronger space of resistance, as Delegate Beatrice Fiorentino tells us.
How did the 2025 selection come about?
We listened without preconceived ideas, ready to intercept and embrace signals of novelty, creativity, and stories belonging to today, coming from all over the world. We gave space to the most significant and urgent instances, with the idea of a cinema capable of representing the complexity of the present while also reflecting on images, challenging canons and renewing them in some way.
A field of inquiry that mirrors a world we find increasingly precarious. Which selected works most strongly expressed this sense of uncertainty?
It’s a trait that unites practically all the films in the selection: Ish is “cinema of poetry” in Pasolini’s sense, telling us how difficult it is to grow up in a place that welcomes you on one side and rejects you on the other; Straight Circle delivers an uncompromising denunciation of the absurdity of borders with a formally explosive proposal; Gorgonà addresses the question of power and the management of energy resources from a feminist perspective; Roqia highlights divisions within the Islamic world and warns of the risks that come with erasing historical memory; in Cotton Queen a young girl rebels against colonialism in Sudan. Compared to past years, however, the energy that has been set in motion generates a positive, explosive force, never conciliatory, aiming at change that carries within it an idea of the future.
How would you describe the Italian filmmaking landscape, both present and especially future?
Italian cinema, when it steps out of its comfort zone, is capable of competing at the highest levels on the international stage. And in fact, after two years of severe production uncertainties, we have two Italian titles in competition: Agon by Giulio Bertelli and Waking Hours by Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini, two beautiful challenges that speak the language of the present, signed by two directors who know what the world and cinema of today are.
Despite the problems, Italian cinema can walk with its head held high, playing offensively, not defensively. We are eagerly awaiting the Italian films in the other Venice sections, but even just based on what we’ve recently seen at Cannes and Locarno, we can be hopeful.
The raw, strenuous behind-the-scenes of professional sports is narrated through the stories of three female athletes competing in shooting, fencing, and judo. Written and directed by Giulio Bertelli, an architect turned filmmaker, the movie explores the dynamics of a fictiona...
A story of female emancipation in Sudan told through the eyes of Nafisa, a teenager raised on tales of resistance against British colonizers told by her grandmother. The peace of her village, built around a cotton farm, is suddenly threatened by the arrival of a businessman p...
The provocative femininity of Greek mythology projected into contemporary settings is the stylistic hallmark of artist and filmmaker Evi Kalogiropoulou, appreciated for her crafty combination of current themes and archaic atmospheres. In this film, two women, Maria and Eleni,...
The evolution of friendship from childhood to adulthood, with all the fragilities and challenges it entails. The film tells the story of Ish and Maram, two deeply bonded friends tested by an unexpected police arrest. This event tests their friendship and forces both to confron...
A horror feature on an investigation into memory, explored through two intertwined timelines. In the present, Muslim exorcist Ahmed slips into Alzheimer’s under the helpless gaze of his disciple; in 1993, the same Ahmed, then a family man, suffers from amnesia following an a...
In a remote desert border zone, two enemy soldiers find themselves isolated, far from civilization and central powers. In this void of reference points, their identities and allegiances dissolve, giving way to an unlikely friendship. The film becomes a reflection on the fragil...
The 1990s and an adolescence of nostalgia and freedom. Best friends Charlotte and Liza dream of a musical future in the vibrant Paris of those years. But a sudden tragedy shatters their plans, leaving Charlotte alone to face dreams that were once shared. This trial marks her ...
Based on Isabel Greenberg’s feminist graphic novel of the same name, the film immerses us in an imaginary medieval world of intrigue, rebellion, and emancipation. In a society where women must carefully measure every move, Cherry is left by her husband in the hands of a frie...
Ten years of SIC@SIC, which again this year selected 7 titles out of more than 300 short films received. What struck you most about these chosen works?
The extreme variety and the awareness gained in a relatively short time by these very young filmmakers. Today it’s well established that the short film is not just a testing ground, an almost “mandatory” step toward a debut feature, but an artistic form with its own scope, rhythm, and codes. A territory to be conquered. Directors have finally made this open zone their own and explore it with a total absence of constraints. Only a few years ago we were still stuck between the living room and the kitchen; today you can expect anything.
How was Yes, Future, the official image of the 2025 edition, created and brought to the public?
On one hand, from the desire to celebrate the 40th anniversary of SIC by paying homage to Gummo by Harmony Korine, launched at Critics’ Week in 1997, which still perfectly preserves its anarchic and corrosive fury. On the other, by thinking of a youth that demands – rightfully – a possibility of the future, contradicting the idea of no future that often accompanies youthful rebellions. For the fifth consecutive year, these inspirations took shape thanks to the creative touch of Mauro Uzzeo, Emiliano Mammucari, and Fabrizio Verrocchi.
