by InTrieste
The Venice Film Festival opened 27 August with a notable presence from Friuli Venezia Giulia region that is increasingly making its way onto the country’s cinematic map. Three productions linked to the area are among those featured in this year’s lineup.
Paolo Strippoli’s La valle dei sorrisi, a thriller shot in the Friulian mountains, screens out of competition. The film brings a stark landscape to the fore, using the region’s rugged backdrop to heighten its atmosphere.
The festival’s Critics’ Week short film program will close with Confini, an animated work by Simone Massi. Set in Gorizia’s symbolic “transalpina” square, where Italy and Slovenia meet, the film highlights a borderland that has long embodied questions of identity and belonging.
Also premiering is Un anno di scuola, the new feature from Trieste-born director Laura Samani, competing in the Orizzonti section. Produced by Nefertiti Film in collaboration with Rai Cinema, the film adapts a 1929 novel by writer Giani Stuparich, another Triestine figure whose work explored generational change and the shifting currents of history.
For Friuli Venezia Giulia, whose locations and cultural figures are increasingly shaping Italian cinema, Venice provides both a showcase and a reminder: this borderland region has long been a crossroads of stories, and its narratives continue to find their way to the big screen.
