Industry

Registration opens today, Tuesday February 1st, for the films to be selected for the 79th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia (31 August – 10 September 2022), directed by Alberto Barbera.

To be admitted to the selection, the pre-selection entry form must be completed online on or before 17 June 2022 (or on or before 31 May 2022 for the immersive works), following the instructions in the Regulations of the 79th Venice Film Festival which may be found at the address: https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2022/regulations

The main innovation in the Regulations of the 79th Venice Film Festival regards the name of the Venice VR Expanded section, which changes to Venice Immersive to embrace the growth of immersive media beyond Virtual Reality technologies to include all forms of XR (Expanded Reality) creative expression.
Venice Immersive will be held in person on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio (Venice Immersive Island), just a short distance from the Lido di Venezia, and will feature in Competition a maximum of 30 immersive projects presented as world or international premieres. Eligible submissions include 360° videos and XR works of any length, including installations and virtual worlds. The Best of Immersive category will present a maximum of 10 projects Out of Competition, exclusively by invitation of the Director, selected among the best works released or presented in other festivals in the 12 months since the last edition of the Venice Film Festival. The Best of Immersive category will also include, Out of Competition and exclusively by invitation, a Worlds Gallery, a gallery of online worlds created in the 12 months since the last edition of the Venice Film Festival.


The works of the teams participating in the sixth edition of Biennale College Cinema-VR will also be included in the selection.

Eligible for the selection of the 79th Venice Film Festival will be films presented as world premieres that meet the following criteria: they must have been completed after 11 September 2021; they must not have had any form of commercial distribution or streaming on the Internet; they must not have participated earlier in any film festival or event, including those in their country of origin.

The sections of the 79th Venice Film Festival will be:
• Venezia 79
• Out of Competition
• Orizzonti
• Orizzonti Extra
• Venice Classics
• Venice Immersive

A film market has been organized as part of the Venice Film Festival which will not only give continuity to the previously developed services (Industry Gold Club, Venice Gap Financing Market, Industry Business Centre, Digital Video Library and VPB Market Screenings), it will also be a meeting and networking opportunity for every category of professional involved in the production of films: producers, financers, distributors, sales representatives, public and private investment funds, banks, film commissions, broadcasters, Internet platforms. The Venice Production Bridge (1 – 6 September), will present an ample selection of projects in an advanced stage of development and pre-financing for films, documentaries, immersive projects. It will also organize the tenth edition of Final Cut in Venice (reserved for works-in-progress from African countries, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria), and the seventh edition of the Book Adaptation Rights Market.

Also online, on the website www.labiennale.org, are the regulations for accreditation at the 79th Venice Film Festival for the following categories: