Biennale College Cinema: the 12 projects of the 14th edition 2025-26

During the 82^nd Venice International Film Festival, 12 projects have been selected for the 14th edition of Biennale College Cinema 2025/26; their teams (composed of a director and a producer) will participate in the first 10-day workshop which will be held from 7 to 16 October 2025. Nine projects were selected from the Biennale College Cinema – International call for applications, whereas another three came from the Biennale College Cinema – Italy call. A total of 361 projects participated. Biennale College Cinema is an advanced training laboratory open to filmmakers from all over the world for the production of low-budget films. Launched at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, Biennale College Cinema has produced 45 feature films so far.

BAMBINO MAIALINO
debut film – director: Maria Gimenéz Cavallo (F, Italy) / producers: Carolina Pezzini (F, Italy), Stefano Mutolo (M, Italy)

DEMETER IN EXILE
debut film – director: Maria Giovanna Cicciari (F, Italy) / producer: Raffaella Pontarelli (F, Italy)

I BALANI
debut film – director: Andrej Chinappi (M, Italy) / producer: Andrea Leone (M, Italy)

CUT SICK
debut film – director: Amanda Kaye (F, Australia) / producers: Tristan Barr (M, Australia), Ashley Burgess (M, Australia)

EMPTY ROOMS
debut film – director: Erenik Beqiri (M, Albania) / producer: Dritan Huqi (M, Albania)

GU SHI
debut film – director: Yinan Song (F, China) / producer: Yueyi Xing (F, China)

LA TRAMA FANTASMA
debut film – director: Nicolás Schujman (M, Argentina) / producer: Ingrid Pokropek (F, Argentina)

LAATIE
director: Winford Collings (M, South Africa) / producer: Deidre Jantjies (F, South Africa)

MOONFISH
debut film –  director: Daniel Zvereff (M, USA) – Mireia Vilanova (F, Spain) 

THANKS, WE’RE FINE
directors: Máté Bence Fazekas and Boglárka Ászity (M/F, Hungary) / producer: Anna Tóth (F, Hungary)

TIJUANA TODAVIA
debut film – Gabriel Gutierrez Morales (M, Mexico) / producer: Humberto Busto Marín (M, Mexico)

TITHES & OFFERING
debut film: Tony Koros (M, Kenya) / producers: Toni Kamau (F, Kenya), Louise Kamwangi (F, Kenya)

After the workshop which will be held on October, four of these twelve projects (including one from the Italy section and at least two by female directors) will be selected to receive support from the Biennale to cover production costs, which cannot exceed 200,000 Euros, and will be presented at the 83^rd Venice Film Festival in 2026.

Biennale College Cinema, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate Cinema, and the additional support of Chanel. The director Audrey Diwan (Golden Lion for the film Happening at the Venice Film Festival in 2021) will join, as mentor, the teams of the four Biennale College Cinema films this year during the activities planned for their first Venice experience.

Biennale College Cinema relies on the academic collaboration of the Gotham Film & Media Institute and the TorinoFilmLab. The educational activities are made possible by the Creative Europe – Media programme. The Director is Alberto Barbera, the Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.