The 37th edition of Venice International Critics’ Week (Venice Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC)) set to take place August 31 to September 10 alongside the Venice International Film Festival, announced the films in competition.
2022 Venice Critics’ Week opens with Three Nights A Week directed by Florent Gouëlou and closes with Queens directed by Yasmine Benkiran.
The Venice International Film Critics’ Week is an independent and parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI). The program includes a selection of seven debut films in competition and two special events out of competition.
IN COMPETITION
ANHELL69
by Theo Montoya.
Colombia, 2022. 75’
A funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a Class-B movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín is casted for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, just like many friends of the director. Anhell69 explores the dreams, doubts and fears of an annihilated generation, and the struggle to carry on making cinema.
BEATING SUN
TANT QUE LE SOLEIL FRAPPE
by Philippe Petit.
France, 2022. 85’
Max doesn’t dream of making green walls for five-star hotels. Tenacious landscaper, committed but cornered, he fights to create a wild garden, without fence, in the heart of downtown Marseille: a plant area open to all. After years of rejection, his project reached the final stage of an architecture competition. For Max, this is the last chance to offer oxygen to the people who are suffocating in an urban hell, under the beating sun.
DOGBORN
by Isabella Carbonell.
Sweden, 2022. 84’
Homeless and invisible – the Twins are constantly struggling to survive. Sister is a ticking time bomb; her screams are loud. Brother, on the other hand, doesn’t speak, but rather screams inwards. Their dream of a real home leads to an unexpected job opportunity that sounds simple enough: transport goods from point A to point B. But when the goods appear in the form of two young girls, the unspeakable happens: a rift suddenly occurs between Brother and Sister. Over the course of two intense days the twins are forced to make a life-altering decision: how far are they willing to go in their quest for a better future?
EISMAYER
by David Wagner.
Austria, 2022. 87’
Vice Lieutenant Eismayer is the most feared instructor in the Austrian army. Recently, his methods have brought his future in the army into question. Eismayer is also gay, a secret that threatens his job and family. Then the openly gay Falak joins the unit. Eismayer clashes with Falak but is also drawn to him. Eismayer has to choose between overcoming his fear of coming out or continuing living an unhappy life full of suppressed emotions. The film Eismayer is based on the real lives, love, and trials of Charles Eismayer and Mario Falak, two men who came together in a world where everything was against them. Today, the two live happily in a registered partnership. They are still actively serving at the time of filming and are highly respected by most of their colleagues. But still not everyone accepts them.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN?
DA LI STE VIDELI OVU ŽENU?
by Dušan Zorić
and Matija Gluščević.
Serbia, 2022. 79’
In the heat of a summer day, Draginja discovers a dead body that resembles her. In the heat of a summer day, Draginja hires a fake husband to show off in front of her friends. In the cold of a winter night, Draginja roams the streets hoping to recover her lost memory. Through three different life possibilities, a middle-aged woman tries to get out of her skin.
MARGINI
by Niccolò Falsetti
Italy, 2022. 91’
Late 2000s. Edoardo, Iacopo and Michele are the members of a punk band in Grosseto in the Tuscan Maremma. Tired of playing in embarrassing contexts, they finally have the chance to open for a famous American hardcore punk band, the Defense. Everything is ready, but on the day they receive a call from the concert organisers: the gig just fell through. Edo, Iac and Miche don’t give up: if they can’t play in Bologna, the Defense will come to Grosseto! Soon though, the paradoxes of provincial life and the grotesque mentality of their fellow citizens seem to leave no way out, turning every little detail into an insurmountable problem. The arrival of the American band is inexorably approaching and, besides the doubtful turnout of the endeavour, the risk is to lose something precious and irreplaceable they have always been taking for granted: their strong and unique friendship.
SKIN DEEP
by Alex Schaad
Germany, 2022. 103’
On first glance, Leyla and Tristan seem like a happy young couple. But when they travel to a mysterious, remote island, a game of identities begins, which changes everything – their perception, their sexuality, their whole “self”. Not only is their relationship in jeopardy, they may never be who they once were again.
OUT OF COMPETITION
OUT OF COMPETITION
OPENING FILM
THREE NIGHTS A WEEK
TROIS NUITS PAR SEMAIN
by Florent Gouëlou
France, 2022. 103’
29-years-old Baptiste is in a relationship with Samia when he first meets Cookie Kunty, a young drag queen from the Parisian scene who immediately mesmerised him. Initially motivated by the idea of a photography project revolving around Cookie, he immerses himself into this world, eventually embarking upon a relationship with Quentin, the young man behind the drag queen.
OUT OF COMPETITION
CLOSING FILM
QUEENS
MALIKATES
by Yasmine Benkiran
Morocco, 2022. 83’
Casablanca, Morocco. A trio of women with the police on their tail embarks on a long escape that takes them across the rugged red terrain and flower-filled valleys of the Atlas to finally reach the Atlantic ocean.
SPECIAL SCREENING
in collaboration with the 79th Venice Film Festival
BLOOD
O SANGUE
by Pedro Costa
Portugal, 1989. 99’
It’s Christmas, New Year’s Eve. Two brothers, one is 18 years old, the other 10. They swear to keep a secret: this time, dad went away forever… Trying to abide by their promise the brothers will lose each other. Secrets, vows, partings: the night of childhood.
SIC@SIC 2022LINE-UP
IN COMPETITION
ALBERTINE WHERE ARE YOU?
by Maria Guidone
Italy, 2022. 20’
Albertine is the most controversial character of Recherche du temps perdu, the most mentioned yet the one we know the least about: we do not know where she comes from, what she does for a living, where she ends up… and even when she dies, we wonder if she ever existed at all. Several critics saw in Albertine Proust’s driver Alfred Agostinelli, a young Italian with whom Proust had been madly in love. The novel and Proust’s life become the excuse for a contemporary love story – where Marcel, Albertine and Alfred hide, bluff, swap genders and roles, experiencing love as an eternal question, aware that the heart of things cannot be captured, but only glimpsed at.
COME LE LUMACHE
LIKE SNAILS
by Margherita Panizon
Italy, 2022. 19’
Simone is a young boy who likes to hike among the bushes of the Trieste Karst, in his magical childhood world where he hides to feel free. He is a “ghost” to his peers who know him only for what they see: someone different, labelled by simplistic stereotypes. Sayid, on the other end, is a young migrant, one of the many teenagers who, like ghosts, leave traces on those same paths. These two creatures meet in a magical place and help each other make themselves less invisible in their own eyes, through a short journey through the woods towards the real world. On this journey, the two get to know each other and learn about the other’s fears and passions, realising they are not as different as they seem.
NOSTOS
by Mauro Zingarelli
Italy, 2022. 20’
In 2059, in a broken-down world, silicon has become the most precious material on the planet. A man and a girl barter transistors and microchips for a few larvae and some water. Their routine will be broken by the discovery of a forgotten heirloom, something that the man will not want to part with.
PUIET
SAPLING
by Lorenzo Fabbro and Bronte Stahl
Italy, Usa, Romania, 2022. 14’
Summer is ending, and the harvest has begun in rural Transylvania. As Nicusor aspires toward adulthood, he looks for a way to contribute. Faced with rejection, he explores his natural surroundings to imagine a place for himself.
REGINETTA
by Federico Russotto
Italy, 2022. 20’
Ciociaria, early ‘50s. A young farmhand is recruited to participate in Miss Italia selections, but her body measurements are not quite right for the contest. To undergo a terrible process of physical transformation seems to be the only way to be elected Reginetta.
RESTI
REMAINS
by Federico Fad
A group of friends on the threshold of adulthood are going to a party. Stuck in traffic, they decide to make a stop. But the neglected place they find themselves in evokes in Mattia an ancient feeling that will make him plunge into his own self.
LA STANZA LUCIDA
LUCID ROOM
by Chiara Caterina
Italy, 2022. 20’
Back home after a break-up, a man finds himself in an empty room. The movements and actions he performs mark the time of his loneliness, and a few objects offer him temporary comfort, before a deep sleep seizes him. A lucid dream will initiate a healing process.
OUT OF COMPETITION
OUT OF COMPETITION
OPENING SHORT FILM
PINNED INTO A DRESS
by Gianluca Matarrese and Guillaume Thomas
France, 2022. 20’
Growing up silently Queer, within a broken family, Kurtis faced abuse, trauma and addiction. As an escape, he discovered Beauty within his rural upbringing. Eventually unveiling places beyond his wildest dreams he created his alter-ego, Miss Fame, becoming one of the World’s most iconic drag supermodel. A hypnosis session takes us on Kurtis/Miss Fame’s journey into their mind, exploring their salvatory yet torturous relationship to Pain and Beauty.
OUT OF COMPETITION
CORTOMETRAGGIO DI CHIUSURA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
by Giorgio Ferrero
Italy, 2022. 20’
Bianca celebrates her 22nd birthday in a small flat in a brutalist neighbourhood on the outskirts of Moscow. To the digital world, Bianca is Electa, known on social media for her touching dance performances and her obsession with the colour white. She was born in Norilsk, Siberia, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and is part of the international group of young people who gravitate to Radio Esperanza Libre, a podcast channel founded by Anita Lopez, a young environmentalist speaker based in Argentina. Anita and Electa met by chance on the internet because, in addition to their shared interest in environmental issues, they share a curious date of birth: 29 February. Electa’s network of virtual connections becomes the only possible escape route for Bianca, at a time when climate change is unfortunately not the only urgency around her. The podcast of Monday 28 February 2022 is an opportunity for Electa to raise a cry for help. Sometimes it is possible to build a concrete path of hope even through seemingly distant connections.