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Venice Film Festival · 2025

Venice Film Festival 2025

Critics' Week

Programme

7 films · 2 reviews

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Agon

Agon tracks three women athletes, specialists in judo, fencing, and shooting, as they prepare for the fictional Ludoj 2024 Games.

(Country: Italy, US, France,; Year: 2025; Director: Giulio Bertelli)

Cotton Queen

Review preview for Cotton Queen

A beguiling mix of magic-realist fable, coming-of-age drama & post-colonial critique.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In Sudan, Nafisa picks cotton and learns from her grandmother. The arrival of a young businessman, threatens to change their way of life.

(Country: Germany. France, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan; Year: 2025; Director: Suzannah Mirghani; Writer: Suzannah Mirghani; Stars: Mihad Murtada, Rabha Mohamed Mahmoud, Talaat Fareed, Haram Bisheer, Hassan Kassala)

Full review See: Suzannah Mirghani on culture, politics and magic realism in Cotton Queen

Gorgonà

In a timeless dystopian future, in a patriarchal city-state plagued by violence and environmental pollution, two women rebel and fight for their freedom and identity, transforming themselves into symbols of resistance and transformation.

(Country: Greece, France; Year: 2025; Director: Evi Kalogiropoulou)

Ish

A racially profiled police stop-and-search sets two best friends on a collision course

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Imran Perretta; Writer: Imran Perretta, Enda Walsh; Stars: Farhan Hasnat, Yahya Kitana, Sudha Bhuchar)

Roqia

Review preview for Roqia

Supernatural possession is closely intertwined with the idea of radicalisation, evil jinn with distorted ideology.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After a car crash, a man returns home to his family with his face covered in bandages, suffering from amnesia. As mysterious and threatening events accumulate, he fears that he is possessed.

(Country: France, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia; Year: 2025; Director: Yanis Koussim)

Full review

Straight Circle

Tensions escalate between two opposing soldiers manning a remote desert outpost.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Oscar Hudson; Writer: Oscar Hudson; Stars: Luke Tittensor, Elliott Tittensor, Neil Maskell)

Waking Hours

Drama about Afghan smugglers.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini)