The Venice Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC), now in its 37. edition, is the result of a tight teamwork that makes us proud and has always been the crowning achievement of the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI). First of all, the selection committee headed by the general delegate Beatrice Fiorentino, who is joined by a new group: Enrico Azzano, Chiara Borroni, Ilaria Feole and Federico Pedroni.

Their challenge, as always, is to draft a map of the cinema of the future by choosing seven debut features from all over the world, in addition to the opening and closing films and the short films of the SIC@SIC selection.

SIC would not exist without the contribution of Alessandro Gropplero, Suomi Sponton, Patrizia Piciacchia, the press office entrusted to The Rumors and Gloria Zerbinati, and the precious support of Giuseppe Ghigi and Adriano De Grandis.

This year we feature a new logo that represents our philosophy: openness and a constant dialogue between the filmmakers, the critics and the audience. At the same time in this edition we embrace our “green spirit” and our catalogue, alongside a limited printed version, will be available digitally, with a special focus on environmental sustainability. In spite of the crisis, the support we received from the Ministry of Culture, the Biennale and our private partners have been so strong and unwavering that we are now able to launch the ambitious project we have been dreaming of: the Casa della Critica, a place where to gather together, near the Palazzo del Casinò, where our screenings take place.

A HOME FOR FILM CRITICS

Cristiana Paternò | President | Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani (SNCCI) A new selection committee, a new team at the National Union of Italian Film Critics, new partners supporting us on our journey. New is the opening trailer that will introduce the screenings for the next three years, new is the artwork - as well as the logo that represents us as a party actively involved in what is on and off the screen. We start from here to discover the new frontiers of the moving image, the future of cinema. Not what has been but what will be, to explore with curiosity the almost 500 submitted films (thus going back to pre-pandemic numbers) and be ready to identify what may be the future of the seventh art.

We start again from the future. This is no easy task because the numbers speak of an important crisis, a progressive and drastic decline in attendance rates in what was once the temple of films and cinephilia. How to react then? What should the Settimana do and what goals should it set itself in order to provide adequate answers to the thousands of questions that inevitably arise in such a situation? The answer, of course, lies on the screen. But most of all in the relationship between the images on screen and reality. A changed and changing reality, clearly in the process of readjustment. On the one hand, a gut reaction. We come from two difficult years marked by illness, fear. Two years of estrangement, isolation and forced distance; two years of darkness. Our reaction, and that of the 9 films in this year’s programme, lead in the opposite direction: towards (a possible) rebirth, towards light and colour; friendship, love, open spaces, community. The characters who live there are dreamers, men and women fighting for a better, fairer future. On the other hand, a more rational answer which takes into consideration the objective difficulties of the entire film industry and the worrying data concerning cinema admissions, in Italy at least.

Without relinquishing our role as critics or giving up the pleasure of reflecting on the images, we felt it was right and imperative to give a vote of confidence, an encouragement, to the film community - from production to distribution - by supporting an extremely accessible editorial line, no less interesting for that, designed for an enlarged audience. An open, welcoming Settimana, proudly queer - beyond the concept of gender, beyond the male/female binary, ready to embrace a new, more evolved idea of identity. Together with fellow travellers Enrico Azzano, Chiara Borroni, Ilaria Feole, Federico Pedroni, we followed Paul Vecchiali’s suggestion that looked back at the very beginning and said: “We must do as the Lumières: reinvent cinema with every film”. This thought has been our beacon in the night, our guide, sometimes perhaps unconsciously, giving us the cue to move even further, in search of films that reinvent cinema, films that rewrite reality. 

FEATURE FILMS
 
In competition
ANHELL69 by Theo Montoya - Colombia
 
BEATING SUN (Tant que le soleil frappe) by Philippe Petit - France 
 
EISMAYER by David Wagner - Austria 
 
DOGBORN by Isabella Carbonell - Sweden 
 
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN? (Da li ste videli ovu ženu?) by Dušan Zorić and Matija Gluscevic - Serbia 
 
MARGINS (Margini) by Niccolò Falsetti - Italy 
 
SKIN DEEP (Aus meiner haut) by Alex Schaad - Germany 
 
Out of competition | Opening film
THREE NIGHTS A WEEK (Trois nuits par semaine) by Florent Gouëlou - France 
 
Out of competition | Closing film
QUEENS (Malikates) by Yasmine Benkiran - Morocco
 
Out of competition | Special screening in collaboration with 79th Venice Film Festival 
BLOOD (O Sangue) by Pedro Costa - Portugal [1989, restored] 
 
 
SHORT FILMS
 
In competition
ALBERTINE WHERE ARE YOU? by Maria Guidone
 
COME LE LUMACHE by Margherita Panizon
 
NOSTOS by Mauro Zingarelli
 
PUIET by Lorenzo Fabbro and Bronte Stahl
 
REGINETTA by Federico Russotto 
 
RESTI by Federico Fadiga 
 
LA STANZA LUCIDA by Chiara Caterina
 
Out of competition | Opening short film
PINNED INTO A DRESS by Gianluca Matarrese and Guillaume Thomas
 
Out of competition | Closing short film
HAPPY BIRTHDAY by Giorgio Ferrero