38SIC: The program of the 38th International Critics’ Week has been announced

Cinema, today as always, remains an open window to the world through which to explore, reflect and tell. This statement by Beatrice Fiorentino, General Delegate of the 38th International Critics’ Week, invites us to examine the power of images and the responsibility that comes from observation through reproduction devices. Cinema is and always will be a matter of the gaze. In its variety of formats, media and screens, it continues to provide an essential opportunity to read the world and express personal and shared viewpoints.

The 38th edition of International Critics’ Week will celebrate “unusual, omnivorous, adventurous” eyes, united by the desire to explore the bold trends of current cinema with an eye projected towards the future. The selection committee of Enrico Azzano, Chiara Borroni, Ilaria Feole and Federico Pedroni chose 7+2 debuts from over five hundred titles from all over the world. This year’s edition of SIC saw a significant increase in the presence of women and new forms of non-fiction narration, while genre cinema such as noir, science fiction and horror showed a willingness to dare and take a stand.

The works presented are characterized by a strong dialogue with the contemporary, “in a short circuit perpetual that feeds on and off the screen. Drawing from reality, to then arrive at authentic and original visions, both intimate and choral”, as Beatrice Fiorentino affirms. These films present decolonized gazes, revisit official narratives and recall buried traumas that resurface forcefully. The cinematic space becomes a terrain to be explored and reconquer while past and present confront each other in a showdown, stimulating a reconsideration of individual and collective history, enriched by a more aware critical conscience.

Among the themes addressed, states of alienation emerge, languages expressed through bodies, and metaphors such as thirsty vampires announcing the end of patriarchy and weedy spiders symbolize the threat of neo-capitalism. The ontological dimension of the image is explored through the creative use of digital, deep fake, and low-definition vertical format, all tools that allow a critical re-reading and a challenge to conventions.

The films selected for this year’s International Critics’ Week are able to tell stories for everyone, entertaining without losing sight of their ability to provoke and stimulate thought. The act of cinematographic viewing, therefore, becomes a political act, as it invites us to look at the world with new eyes, to examine social dynamics and to reflect on the challenges of the contemporary world.

Our Chiara Nicoletti interviewed the General Delegate Beatrice Fiorentino, who illustrated this year’s program to us, under the banner of a renewed importance of the gaze of new directors, ready to step out of their comfort zone and take the risk of showing their own fury.

Find out what she said (in Italian) here.

Here are the selected titles:

COMPETITION

• ABOUT LAST YEAR – Dunja Lavecchia, Beatrice Surano, Morena Terranova (Italy)
• HOARD – Luna Carmoon (UK)
• LIFE IS NOT A COMPETITION, BUT I’M WINNING – Julia Fuhr Mann (Germany)
• LOVE IS A GUN – Lee Hong-Chi (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
• MALQUERIDAS – Tana Gilbert (Chile, Germany)
• SKY PEALS – Moin Hussain (UK)
• THE VOURDALAK – Adrien Beau (France)

OUT OF COMPETITION
OPENING FILM

• GOD IS A WOMAN – Andrés Peyrot (France, Switzerland, Panama)

CLOSING FILM

• VERMIN – Sébastien Vaniček (France, Morocco)

SPECIAL SCREENING – in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival and Giornate degli Autori

• CRITICAL PASSION – Simone Isola, Franco Montini, Patrizia Pistagnesi (Italy)

In the SIC@SIC short films section, the selected titles are:

COMPETITION

• DE L’AMOUR PERDU – Lorenzo Quagliozzi (Italy)
• GROUP PHOTO – Tommaso Frangini (Italy)
• IT ISN’T SO – Fabrizio Paterniti Martello (Italy)
• THE TERMINATOR LINE – Gabriele Biasi (Italy)
• LAS MEMORIAS PERDIDAS DE LOS ÁRBOLES – Antonio La Camera (Italy, Spain)
• PINOQUO – Federico Demattè (Italy)
• WE SHOULD ALL BE FUTURISTS – Angela Norelli (Italy)

OUT OF COMPETITION
OPENING SHORT FILM

• MEETING AT NIGHT – Liliana Cavani (Italy)

CLOSING SHORT FILM

• TILIPIRCHE – Francesco Piras (Italy)

The International Critics’ Week (SIC) is an autonomous and parallel section organized by the Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani (SNCCI) within the framework of the Venice International Film Festival. The selection is made up of seven first films in competition and three special events out of competition.