The 82nd Venice International Film Festival, held from August 27 to September 6, 2025, transformed La Serenissima into a stage where minimalist gestures spoke as loudly as epic spectacle. Venice 2025 was a reminder that film festivals aren’t just about red carpets—they’re about the sharpest moments of empathy, risk, and quiet revolution wrapped in celluloid.

Under the artistic direction of Biennale President, the selection demonstrated a renewed interest in family dramas, political urgency, and global solidarity. While big names competed, it was often the smaller voices telling urgent stories—those of exile, conflict, identity—that lingered most, long after the screenings ended. In a world saturated with spectacle, Venice showed there’s still immense power in subtlety.

The festival didn’t shy from its political heartbeat. The jury responded to films dealing directly with human rights, war, displacement and environmental collapse. From Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab exposing the tragedy of a young Palestinian girl’s death, to Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, which explores family ties and estrangement across geographies, the program was global but deeply personal. Venice 2025 reminded us how the local can always point to the universal.

Venice 2025 – Key Winners & Highlights

• Golden Lion (Best Film): Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch
• Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize: The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania
• Silver Lion – Best Director: Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine
• Best Actress (Volpi Cup): Xin Zhilei for The Sun Rises on Us All
• Best Actor (Volpi Cup): Toni Servillo for La Grazia
• Best Screenplay: At Work (À pied d’œuvre) by Valérie Donzelli & Gilles Marchand
• Marcello Mastroianni Award (Emerging Performer): Luna Wedler for Silent Friend
• Lion of the Future (Best First Feature): Short Summer by Nastia Korkia

Venice 2025 wasn’t about grand gestures—it was about the nuance behind them. In a festival season often defined by spectacle and blockbuster buzz, Venice persisted in proving that cinema’s hardest punches are often silent. From its selections to its winners, the Biennale delivered a festival that felt urgent, meditative, and deeply human.