London-based Chilean-Indian director Shalini Adnani’s debut feature Our Share of Sand, about Maya, a 12-year-old girl who returns to rural India to reunite with her estranged father, is one of the standout entries at the upcoming Venice Film Festival Critics Week.
This section, dedicated to firsts from around the world, also includes two Colombian titles. The End of Times is a political work co-directed by Bibiana Rojas Gómez and Juan David Cárdenas, a fiction-documentary hybrid that uses artificial intelligence to explore colonialism and capitalism in Colombian history, and Sebastian Munera’s drama Meteorite, about an amusement park project.
On the grounds of the former mansion of drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Italy also figures prominently in the lineup, with Paris-based director Tommaso Usberti’s Before the War telling the story of a young man named Guido, who grew up in a racist environment in northern Italy, and falls in love with Sonia, a Kosovan immigrant who entered the competition slot.
Also from Italy is the section’s non-competitive opening film, Marco Santi’s existential noir Jaffa the Great, and the closing film, also non-competitive, is the Italian rap musical Rider, co-directed by Lorne Johnson and a local music producer known as Dade (David Pavanello). “Rider” follows a young food delivery driver who delivers a large order of sushi to a luxury villa on the outskirts of Milan and is invited to stay that night.
All seven features in Venice Critics Week are by first-time directors and all are world premieres.
Rounding out the competition in this section is the Tunisian dystopian drama “The H@llow Man.”
Kamel Laaridhi is set in Tunisia in 2059, where biochips control memories and suppress emotions. Chinese drama “Zoom In, Zoom Out” by Dong Jie. The story of a young video game designer who goes on a journey to find his missing roommate Gao by following clues hidden in an online game. And “London,” a Brazilian drama by Victor Di Marco and Márcio Piccoli, depicts the dilemmas faced by young people with disabilities.
“While the entire industry is facing a crisis, these films prove that cinema has never stopped asserting its importance,” Beatrice Fiorentino, general director of the Venice Critics’ Week, said in a statement. “This film is fierce and independent, bold and vibrant, with a determination to remind us that our collective imagination can, and indeed must, continue to be rewritten.”
All entries in the Venice Critics Weekly contest will compete for the title of the official selection of the fest’s Future Lion Prize, worth $100,000.
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival will be held from September 2nd to 12th, and the official selection lineup will be announced on Thursday. See all Venice Critics Week titles below.
competition
“The End of an Era” Bibiana Rojas Gomez, Juan David Cárdenas (Colombia)
“The H@llow Man” Kamel Laridi (Tunisia)
“London” Victor Di Marco, Marcio Piccoli (Brazil)
“Meteor” Sebastian Munera (Colombia)
“Our Share of Sand” Shalini Adnani (India, UK, Greece)
“Prima Della Guerra” Tommaso Usberti (France, Italy)
“Zoom in, zoom out” Dong Jie (China)
out of competition
“Il Grande Giaffa” Marco Santi (Italy) — Opening video
“Rider” Lorne Johnson, Davide Pavanello (Italy) – Closing Film
