In Queer Lion Award – Out of Competition are listed: feature films with LGBTQ characters or situations that are particularly secondary and/ormarginal to the main plot and story; all the works with a running time under 30′; the restored versions of films that made the history of queer cinema and culture; episodic series made for tv or streaming platforms.
La Biennale di Venezia: biglietti | subscriptions
OUT OF COMPETITION – FEATURE FILMS
My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile by Julia Loktev (USA, 355’) doc
Presented in the Venice Open section
Synopsis: Julia Loktev closely follows a group of independent Russian journalists forced into exile following the invasion of Ukraine. Amid disorientation, fear and resistance, the film offers an intimate portrait of the vulnerability of those who continue to tell the truth while searching for a new home far from home.
Official screening | Sep 04 | 11:30 Sala Casinò | Tickets – All accreditations
Eklipse by Manuel Wetscher (Austria, Italy, 91’)
Presented in the Orizzonti section
Synopsis: In the summer of 1999, Tomy and Chris spend their days playing and discovering the world in an alpine pasture. But when Chris learns that Tomy’s father has been hospitalized with what is referred to as the “gay disease,” fear and prejudice intrude upon their childhood, while Tomy is forced to confront his family’s silence.
Official screening | Sep 05 | 14:00 Sala Darsena | Tickets – All accreditations
L’estranea by Paolo Strippoli (Italy, France, Belgium, 115’)
Presented in the Venezia 83 section
Synopsis: A woman bursts into her daughter’s life to reveal a family secret buried for years: a pact made with a stranger, whose consequences have endured through time. Now the past resurfaces and demands to be reckoned with, forcing mother and daughter to confront a truth that can no longer be ignored.
Official screening | Sep 07 | 19:30 Sala Grande | Tickets
Domenica capitale – Genere domenicale by Giovanna Giuliani (Italy, 165’)
Presented in the Giornate degli Autori section
Synopsis: Two women, one in Rome and the other in Naples, work with words and are approaching retirement. Through their stories, the film explores the meaning of Sunday as time set aside from work: a space for listening, freedom and possibility, suspended between personal history and collective memory.
Official screening | Sep 07 | 20:30 Sala Laguna | Online booking
Joie de vivre by Luca Guadagnino (Italy, 435’) doc
Presented in the Venice Open section
Synopsis: A two-part documentary, directed by Luca Guadagnino, a love letter to Bernardo Bertolucci. Through his cinema, art and life, the film explores his legacy through the testimonies of figures from the film world who drew inspiration from him, offering a portrait of a unique filmmaker.
Official screening | Sep 08 | 15:00 Sala Casinò | Tickets – All accreditations
Official screening | Sep 09 | 14:30 Sala Casinò | Tickets – All accreditations
Intermission by Yonfan (Hong Kong SAR, 225’) doc
Presented in the Venice Open section
Synopsis: Yonfan, Taiwanese director, screenwriter, photographer and queer artist, and one of the most original figures in Asian cinema, revisits his creative universe through music, dance, photography and writing. A self-portrait in motion, where private memory and collective history converge.
Official screening | Sep 11 | 15:00 Sala Casinò | Tickets – All accreditations
OUT OF COMPETITION – SHORT FILMS
Revolver by Paoli De Luca (Italy, 20’)
Presented in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica section
Synopsis: In a techno club in Naples, Ronga, a trans go-go dancer, performs in a cage while around her the atmosphere is soaked in desire, power and violence. Caught between a photographer’s lens, a predatory obsession and the club’s queen, she fights to preserve her dignity.
Official screening | Sep 06 | 13:45 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations
Angelo azzurro by Tommaso Acquarone (Italy, 20’)
Presented in the Orizzonti section
Synopsis: Along the Adriatic coast, fourteen-year-old Alessandro experiences a night of friendship, desire and first discoveries. Torn between an ambiguous intimacy with Filippo and his attraction to Lena, he crosses the fragile boundary between childhood and adolescence, confronting for the first time the complexity of his own feelings.
Official screening | Sep 10 | 17:00 Sala Giardino | Tickets – All accreditations
Un breve incontro (A Brief Encounter) by Liryc Dela Cruz (Italy, 20’)
Presented in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica section
Synopsis: In Genoa, Kath, an online content moderator, steps away from her job following the suicide of a Filipino colleague, worn down by the images he is forced to view. Her encounter with Jenny, a massage therapist, becomes an unexpected space of connection and closeness, where two invisible women find in each other’s bodies a possibility of healing.
Official screening | Sep 11 | 13:30 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations
Tropikos tou thrinountos gkeko (Tropic of the Mourning Gecko) by Stavros Markoulakis (Greece, France, Netherlands, 19’)
Presented in the Orizzonti section
Synopsis: On the eve of leaving for military service, eighteen-year-old Yorgos meets a boy who awakens a forbidden desire. In the final days of summer, beneath the Cretan sun, his certainties about the future begin to crumble and, between desire and fear, a new identity takes shape.
Official screening | Sep 11 | 17:00 Sala Giardino | Tickets – All accreditations
OUT OF COMPETITION – RESTORED FILMS
Valerie a týden divů (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders) by Jaromil Jireš (Czechoslovakia, 1970, 77’)
Presented in the Venezia Classici section
Synopsis: In a village suspended between dream and reality, thirteen-year-old Valerie sees her world turned upside down over the course of a week filled with apparitions, threats and mysteries. Amid vampires, superstitions and ambiguous figures, the awakening of desire becomes a surreal journey toward self-discovery and an encounter with her own fears.
Official screening | Sep 07 | 11:15 Sala Corinto | Tickets – All accreditations
We would also like to highlight the following films for their inclusion of LGBT characters — extremely marginal, but daring for their time — as well as queer elements and dynamics of particular interest: Woo Yuet dik goo si (The Story of Woo Viet) directed by Ann Hui (Hong Kong, 1981), Brutti, sporchi e cattivi by Ettore Scola (Italy, 1976), and Cul-de-sac by Roman Polański (UK, 1966).
One final mention to the LGBTQ character in Il fuoco che ti porti dentro by Edoardo De Angelis (Italy, 93’), presented in the Venezia 83 section.
