In the main competition of the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, 21 international films will compete from August 27 for what is arguably the most prestigious film prizes in European cinema: the Golden Lion.

A-list stalwarts from Julia Roberts to George Clooney and Cate Blanchett will feature on Venice screens, while politically charged features and documentaries will also mark this year's film gala.  

Roberts makes her first-ever stroll down the Lido for Luca Guadagnino's "After the Hunt," a #MeToo-inspired thriller. The Hollywood icon plays a Yale philosophy professor who's put in a difficult position when her Ph.D. candidate and protegee ("The Bear's" Ayo Edebiri) accuses Alma's colleague and friend (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault. 

Another Venice newbie is professional wrestler turned action superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, appearing in a serious film (for once). He plays former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter, Mark Kerr, in "The Smashing Machine" from indie darling Benny Safdie. Emily Blunt is Kerr's wife, Dawn Staples.

Hollywood hits Venice red carpet

Among the red carpet regulars this year is George Clooney, who is the lead in Noah Baumbach's "Jay Kelly," the story of a famous actor traveling across Europe with his long-time manager (played by Adam Sandler) as they reflect on their legacies and life choices.

Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver, frequent Venice attendees, return this year with "Father Mother Sister Brother," the hotly anticipated new film from independent film pioneer Jim Jarmusch.

A trio of contemporary character studies set in the US, Dublin and Paris, it follows the relationships between adult children (including Blanchett and Driver) and their somewhat distant parents, played by Tom Waits and Charlotte Rampling.

Korean film fans will get their fill with "No Other Choice", the new crime thriller from master director Park Chan-wook ("Old Boy," "The Handmaiden"). It stars Lee Byung-hun as a man laid off from his longtime position who ruthlessly attempts to get his job back. 

Meanwhile, Emma Stone reunites with her "Poor Things" director Yorgos Lanthimos for "Bugonia," the English-language remake of the anarchic, off-beat 2003 South Korean sci-fi film, "Save the Green Planet." 

And Australian heartthrob Jacob Elordi is also in town, boating in for Guillermo del Toro's long-awaited Frankenstein adaptation — which also features Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.

After sitting out last year, Netflix is back on the Lido with a vengeance. Alongside Del Toro's "Frankenstein" and Baumbach's "Jay Kelly," the streamer is rolling out the Venice red carpet for "House of Dynamite," the first feature from female action director Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") in eight years.

The thriller is set among a group of White House officials — played by, among others, Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee and Jared Harris — who are scrambling to deal with an incoming nuclear missile attack on the US. Apparently, Bigelow will tell the story in real time. 

Venice kicks off awards season 

The Venice International Film Festival has become the unofficial kickoff to awards season, and this year's lineup looks especially Oscar-friendly. Director Paolo Sorrentino, an Academy Award winner for "The Great Beauty," opens the festival with "La Grazia," starring his longtime muse, Toni Servillo.

Mona Fastvold, co-writer and producer of the triple Oscar winner "The Brutalist," arrives in Venice with "The Testament of Ann Lee," a historical drama musical starring Amanda Seyfried as the titular Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century.

Artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel returns to Venice with his own award-bait period drama, "In the Hand of Dante," a crime thriller about a handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Oscar Isaac stars in a dual role alongside a ensemble cast that includes Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler, Gal Gadot, Martin Scorsese and Al Pacino.

There are also several documentaries in Venice this year that could turn up on awards- and best-of lists.

Legendary German director Werner Herzog was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the festival's opening ceremony on Wednesday night. He will also present the unconventional nature documentary, "Ghost Elephants," which follows indigenous Khoisan trackers in Angola as they search for a legendary — possibly mythical — herd of elephants.

Oscar winner Laura Poitras, who won the Golden Lion in 2022 for "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," teams up with Mark Obenhaus on "Cover-Up," a portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

International features include Francois Ozon's "L'Etranger" — an adaptation of the existentialist classic by Albert Camus — and "Orphan," the new feature from "Son of Saul" director Laszlo Nemes, which follows the aftermath of the Hungarian uprising against the Communist regime in Budapest.

Current conflicts play out on big screen

Venice is less known for its political content, but this year's festival features several films charged with contemporary geopolitics.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab," by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, is a real-life drama is based on the harrowing true story of a 6-year-old girl trapped in Gaza during the Israeli invasion — including her desperate final phone call to Red Crescent emergency workers.

Describing the film during a press conference, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera could barely hold back tears. 

Russian politics are under the spotlight in Olivier Assayas' "The Wizard of the Kremlin," starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin and Paul Dano as a behind-the-scenes Kremlin power broker.

Iran is in focus in a pair of films running in Venice's festival sidebars: Ali Asgari's "Divine Comedy," a dark satire about an Iranian filmmaker struggling with censorship; and Amir Azizi's "Inside Amir," which follows a young Iranian on the verge of leaving the country. 

The political edge will extend beyond the screen this year.

On August 23, hundreds of filmmakers and cultural figures, under the banner Venice4Palestine, signed an open letter urging the festival to take a clear stand on the war in Gaza and not remain "indifferent to this human, civil and political tragedy," and to provide more space for Palestinian voices.

Italian artists' collective Artisti #NoBavaglio has also called for a major demonstration on August 30, warning that the festival risks becoming "a sad and empty showcase" if it ignores the ongoing war.