The line-up of the tiles competing for the Queer Lion Award is possible thanks to the direct and precious collaboration of the different selection committees of the Venice International Film Festival.
All films with a duration of 30 minutes or more, with relevant LGBT themes and characters, are eligible for the QL Award competition.
For the 2021 line-up, special thanks go to Alberto Barbera, Angela Savoldi, Paolo Bertolin (for all the sections of the official program, and in particular Venezia 78, Fuori Concorso, Orizzonti, Biennale College); Michel Reilhac, Federico Anselmi, Liz Rosenthal, Mariachiara Manci (Venice VR Expanded); Gaia Furrer, Renata Santoro, Luca Di Leonardo, Francesco Bonerba (Giornate degli Autori); Beatrice Fiorentino (International Critics’ Week).
Last but not least, thanks to all of those contributing to the success of QL, directly and indirectly, from the experts and consultants of the Cinema Department to the Press Office, Accreditations Office, Secretariat and Protocol Office.
SYNOPSES, CAST & CREDITS
download the pressbook HERE
The Power of the Dog by Jane Campion (New Zealand, Australia, 125 ‘, 2021)
Set in the 20’s, the story centers on the Burbank brothers, Phil and George, well-off siblings owners of a Montana ranch overlooking the valley. The two could not be more different: whereas Phil is a bright but cruel man, with an overbearing and violent attitude, George is a stubborn and fussy, but always kind. When George secretly marries Rose, a young widow, Phil refuses to accept it and starts a ruthless war against her, using her son Peter as a pawn.
Presented in Venezia 78
Competencia oficial by Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn (Spain, Argentina, 114 ‘, 2021)
Looking for a prestige project that will leave a mark, a billionaire decides to finance a film. He hires renowned director Lola Cuevas (openly lesbian), who, however, immediately finds herself in trouble, having to manage the clashing egos of the two leads, Hollywood star Félix and “serious theater” actor Iván. In order to try to create some chemistry between the two men, she comes up with a series of weird labours they will have to overcome.
Presented in Venezia 78
Madres paralelas by Pedro Almodóvar (Spain, 120 ‘, 2021)
Two women from Madrid, both single and dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, find themselves giving birth on the same day in the same hospital: middle-aged Janis, comforts younger Ana, frightened about the future, and the words they exchange in those hours, in an anonymous hospital corridor, will end up changing their lives in an unexpected way.
Presented in Venezia 78
Il bambino nascosto by Roberto Andò (Italy, France, 110 ‘, 2021)
Gabriele Santoro, a piano teacher at San Pietro a Majella Conservatory, lives in a low-class district in Naples. Silent, cultured, solitary, he is a man of hidden, secret passions. One morning a ten-year-old boy sneaks into his apartment and hides in it. Gabriele will soon discover that the child is the son of a Camorra man and that, as it often happens to those denied of their childhood, Ciro ignores the alphabet of feelings.
Presented in Fuori Concorso
Il paradiso del pavone by Laura Bispuri (Italy, Germany, 89 ‘, 2021)
On a winter’s day, Nena gathers her family to celebrate her birthday. Il paradiso del pavone (The peacock’s paradise) is a small journey into the intimacy and authenticity of human beings: a film about an extended family in which everyone talks but no one really listens. Until an unexpected event forces the family members to look into each other’s eyes and reveal themselves for what they really are. Nena will finally reveal to her children and relatives her polyamorous relationship.
Presented in Orizzonti
El hoyo en la cerca by Joaquín del Paso (Mexico, Poland, 100 ‘, 2021)
As every year, the Los Pinos school, a prestigious school of the confessional type, sends its students on retreat to the countryside. Under the watchful eye of teachers and priests, the children are led on the path of their physical and moral development. Through the gaze of several middle and upper class teenagers, the film shows how their upbringing affects the future of society itself.
Presented in Orizzonti
La santa piccola by Silvia Brunelli (Italy, 97 ‘, 2021)
Mario and Lino, two friends, born and raised in the Sanità quarter in Naples, are two eighteen-year-olds who never stepped out from that micro-reality. They lead a monotonous life, until the sister of one of them convinces the locals that she has performed a miracle and she starts being whorshipped as a living Saint. The fate of her family abruptly changes and both boys find out that they are different from what they thought: Mario realizes that he is homosexual and in love with Lino, who, instead, does not notice it, and, actually tries to find a way out from the routine of his life.
Presented in Biennale College
Deserto Particular by Aly Muritiba (Brazil, Portugal, 120 ‘, 2021)
A lonely forty-year-old policeman lives in the rich south of Brazil. His heart beats for a woman he met online. Although they never met in person, their relationship becomes deeper and more and more solid. One day the woman disappears from the web and he decides to leave for Bahia and look for her. Upon reaching his destination, he will discover that the woman he loves actually is a man.
Presented in 18. Giornate degli Autori
Il silenzio grande by Alessandro Gassmann (Italy, Poland, 106 ‘, 2021)
Villa Primic, once a luxurious mansion, now nothing more than a ruin that looks like something out of a ghost story, has been put up for sale. A painful decision, taken by Mrs. Rose Primic, and shared by Massimiliano (who comes out in a very touching way) and Adele, heirs to the dilapidated fortune of the family: the only one who is not happy at all is the head of the family, Valerio, who will discover that he never really got to know his dear ones and, perhaps, not even himself, to the point of reaching the bitter awareness that living does not mean being alive.
Presented in 18. Giornate degli Autori
La dernière séance by Gianluca Matarrese (Italy, France, 100 ‘, 2021)
Bernard has just retired. He is 63 years old, he lives alone with his two cats and decides to move to a new house, the one where he will live the last chapter of his life. Preparing the boxes, he begins to make a selection: what to leave, what to bring? Bernard is my master and I am his slave. His last lover I help him to put the whip in a box, between fragments of his memories; memories of the loves that AIDS has stolen from his arms, the traces of an adoptive family that rejected him, of the rigid upbringing that forged him, of a mother and father he never knew. Our sexual games are the chances for two generations to meet: between a whiplash and a leather harness we discuss about love, death, the AIDS epidemic in the Eighties, his new life project, about us. The wounds and grave goods of a survivor, a cry for life in the light of sexual impulses.
Presented in 36. International Critics’ Week
SCREENING SCHEDULE
THE POWER OF THE DOG
01/09 18:30 PalaBiennale | press, industry
01/09 19:00 Sala Giardino | press, industry
01/09 21:30 PalaBiennale | press, industry
01/09 22:00 Sala Giardino | press, industry
02/09 16:30 Sala Grande | tickets, all accreditations
02/09 21:50 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets
02/09 18:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
02/09 18:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
02/09 22:50 Arena Lido | tickets
03/09 09:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
03/09 09:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
03/09 11:30 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | all accreditations
03/09 19:00 Sala Pasinetti | all accreditations
03/09 19:00 Sala Perla 2 | all accreditations
03/09 21:45 Sala Pasinetti | all accreditations
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL
04/09 09:00 Sala Grande | press, industry
04/09 11:00 Sala Darsena | press, industry
04/09 19:30 Sala Grande | tickets
04/09 19:30 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets
04/09 20:30 Arena Lido | tickets
04/09 21:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
04/09 21:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
05/09 08:30 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | all accreditations
05/09 10:30 PalaBiennale | all accreditations
05/09 12:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
05/09 12:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
05/09 22:15 Sala Perla | all accreditations
MADRES PARALELAS
01/09 08:30 Sala Darsena | press, industry
01/09 10:45 PalaBiennale | press, industry
01/09 19:00 Sala Grande | invitations
01/09 19:00 Sala Darsena | invitations
01/09 20:00 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets
01/09 20:30 Arena Lido | tickets
01/09 21:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
01/09 21:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
02/09 08:30 PalaBiennale | all accreditations
02/09 09:00 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | all accreditations
02/09 14:15 Astra 1 | tickets, all accreditations
02/09 14:30 Astra 2 | tickets, all accreditations
02/09 15:30 Cinema Rossini | tickets
02/09 15:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
02/09 16:45 Astra 1 | tickets, all accreditations
02/09 17:00 Astra 2 | tickets, all accreditations
02/09 19:15 Sala Pasinetti | all accreditations
02/09 21:30 Sala Perla | all accreditations
02/09 21:45 Sala Pasinetti | all accreditations
IL BAMBINO NASCOSTO
11/09 08:30 Sala Darsena | press, industry
11/09 11:00 Sala Darsena | press, industry
11/09 20:00 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets
11/09 20:30 Arena Lido | tickets
11/09 21:00 Sala Grande | tickets
11/09 21:00 PalaBiennale | tickets, all accreditations
11/09 21:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
11/09 21:30 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
IL PARADISO DEL PAVONE
04/09 19:30 Sala Volpi | press, industry
04/09 22:15 Sala Casinò | press, industry
05/09 17:15 Sala Darsena | tickets, all accreditations
05/09 17:15 Sala Giardino | tickets, all accreditations
05/09 19:00 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
05/09 19:00 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
06/09 09:15 Sala Volpi | all accreditations
06/09 11:30 Sala Casinò | all accreditations
06/09 13:00 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
06/09 13:00 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
06/09 14:00 Sala Volpi | all accreditations
06/09 15:00 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets, all accreditations
06/09 17:15 Sala Casinò | all accreditations
EL HOYO EN LA CERCA
02/09 19:45 Sala Casinò | press, industry
02/09 22:00 Sala Volpi | press, industry
03/09 13:45 PalaBiennale | tickets, all accreditations
03/09 14:15 Sala Darsena | tickets, all accreditations
03/09 22:00 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
03/09 22:00 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
04/09 09:15 Sala Casinò | all accreditations
04/09 10:00 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
04/09 10:00 IMGCinemas (Mestre) | tickets
04/09 11:15 Sala Volpi | all accreditations
04/09 14:15 Sala Casinò | all accreditations
04/09 17:00 Sala Volpi | all accreditations
LA SANTA PICCOLA
08/09 09:00 Sala Giardino | press, industry
08/09 16:30 Sala Giardino | tickets, all accreditations
08/09 Sala Web
09/09 14:00 Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (Venezia) | tickets, all accreditations
DESERTO PARTICULAR
02/09 19:30 Sala Astra 1 | press, industry
02/09 19:45 Sala Astra 2 | press, industry
07/09 16:45 Sala Perla | all accreditations
07/09 16:45 Sala Web
09/09 22:00 Sala Astra 1 | tickets, all accreditations
09/09 22:15 Sala Astra 2 | tickets, all accreditations
IL SILENZIO GRANDE
08/09 10:30 Sala Perla | all accreditations
08/09 10:30 Sala Web
09/09 21:00 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
LA DERNIÈRE SÉANCE
09/09 08:30 Sala Perla | press, industry
10/09 14:00 Sala Perla | all accreditations
11/09 09:00 Sala Perla | all accreditations
11/09 17:30 Cinema Rossini (Venezia) | tickets
