Final Cut in Venice

VIDEO:
Final Cut in Venice

The thirteenth edition of the Final Cut in Venice program will take place from August 31 to September 2, 2025 during the Venice Production Bridge of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (Lido di Venezia, 27 August – 6 September 2025).

The program’s purpose is to provide concrete assistance in the completion of films from Africa and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen; and to offer producers and directors an opportunity to present films still in the production phase to international film professionals and distributors in order to facilitate post-production and promote co-production partnerships and market access.

3.1 Program
The program consists in three days of activities, in which the working copies of a maximum of 6 selected films (see articles 5 and 6) are presented to producers, buyers, distributors and film festival programmers. Networking, encounters and meetings will allow directors and producers to interact directly with the workshop participants. One-to-one meetings between the selected film teams and professionals are organized on September 2, 2025.

3.2 Screenings
The program also includes screenings of the selected films in the presence of the directors and producers. Only Industry pass holders will be allowed to attend the screenings: producers, distributors, operators, buyers, festival programmers, representatives of the institutions and others invited in advance by the Festival management.

The program will conclude with the awarding of prizes, in kind or in cash, for the financial support of the films in their post-production phase.

For the ninth year, La Biennale di Venezia will give a prize of € 5,000 for the best film in post-production. The La Biennale di Venezia Prize will be attributed by a jury composed of three members named by the Festival Director, while the other prizes will be awarded by final and irrevocable decision of the Festival Director and the Final Cut in Venice's supporters.

The prizes are:
 - € 15.000 for the colour correction of a feature-length film offered by Laser Film (Rome) for up to 50 hours of work (technician included);
 - € 15.000 offered by Studio A Fabrica (Ajaccio) for the sound mixing of a feature length film (up to 12 days of work, sound mixer not included);
 - Oticons will offer tailored film music services to one of the films, in the form of either music consulting, and/or music supervision and/or the production of an original score by one of our represented film composers. These services, valued at up to €10,000, will encompass all relevant processes, such as spotting sessions, composition, mock-ups and final production (for original score), or expert support in music licensing and supervision (if applicable).
 - for a feature-length fiction film a $ 10,000 MG or for a feature-length documentary a $ 3,000 MG for marketing, publicity and distribution in the Arab World offered by MAD Solutions for one Arab project (except for projects already funded by MAD Solutions);
 - Titra Film (Paris) will offer up to € 5,000 for colour-grading; up to € 3,000 for the production of a DCP master, or the creation of i-Tunes, Google or Netflix files; up to € 2,000 for French or English subtitles (translation not included);
 - up to € 10,000 for the sound mixing of a feature length film (up to 7 days of work, auditorium and technician included) offered by 196-MEDIA (Rome);
 - up to € 10,000 for digital visual effects “2D Comp” ​ offered by M74 srl (Rome);
- Mnemonica will offer its cloud platform to safely store, share and distribute the winning movie for a value of € 10,000.
 - up to € 7,500 for the creation of the DCP master with Italian or English subtitles, offered by Sub-Ti Ltd.(London);
 - up to € 7,500 for the accessible contents of the film for audiences with sensory disabilities: subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired and audio description for the blind and visually impaired, including audio subtitles in voiceover, in Italian or English (the subtitles and the audio-described soundtrack for the DCP will be provided) offered by Sub-Ti Access Srl (Turin).
 - € 5,000 offered by Red Sea Fund (Red Sea International Film Festival);
- € 5,000 by Rai Cinema for a first negotiation right for the acquisition of Free TV exploitation rights in the Italian territory and obligation to mention “in collaboration with Rai Cinema S.p.a.” in the credits of the work;
 - $ 5,000 awarded to an Arab project offered by the El Gouna Film Festival;
 - € 5,000 offered by Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)/ACP/EU as a refund for post-production services – delivered by societies based in one of the EU or OACPS countries (except South Africa) – of a feature-length film realised by a director from one of the ACP countries and produced or co-produced by a society based in one of the ACP countries;
 -“Coup de cœur de la Cinémathèque Afrique” Prize, offered by Cinémathèque Afrique of the Institut Français (Paris). The prize consists in the acquisition of the non-commercial and non-exclusive broadcasting rights for 7 years for a value of € 4,000 – € 6,000 depending on the genre and length of the film and the number of available territories;
 - participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500), offered by the Festival International du Film d’Amiens;
 - participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500), offered by the Festival International du Film de Fribourg

For the fourth year in a row, the FCV program will benefit of the additional support of the Red Sea International Film Festival within our supporters.

5.1 Eligibility criteria of the films
All works submitted must be in post-production and made exclusively by filmmakers from countries as specified in Art. 2. Only feature fiction or feature art-house documentary films will be considered.
It is preferable to send a complete working copy of the film. Should the film still be in an initial editing stage, a series of edited sequences will be accepted (totalling at least one-third of the overall anticipated length of the film), accompanied by the director’s statement of intent and a film treatment. The film in progress submitted for selection must be in the original language of English or French, or have English or French subtitles.

5.2 Subsequent submission
Each film may submit to only two editions of the “Final Cut in Venice” program, and may submit the second time only if substantial progress in the production of the working copy has been achieved, and if the film was not awarded in the previous edition.

5.3 Submission to other sections of the Festival
Submission to the “Final Cut in Venice” program precludes submission to any other official section of the Festival that same year. However, it is possible to submit the film to official sections of the Festival the following year. Moreover, upon the discretion of the Festival Director, a film in post-production that was submitted to the official sections of the Festival but was not selected may be submitted to the program the same year.

6.1 Selection
The Festival Director, assisted by a staff of experts, is responsible for selecting the films; his decision is final and irrevocable.

6.2 Selection results
The selection results will be communicated to the submitted films by 7 July 2025.

7.1 Materials to be sent for selection
In order to be considered for selection, by 9 June 2025, applicants must:
a)   fill out the Final Cut in Venice SUBMISSION FORM, in acceptance of the present regulations.
b) send a link with the password (valid at least until 7 July 2025) for online viewing to: finalcut@labiennale.org

7.2 Informational material about the film
Informational material about the submitted film must be sent exclusively in electronic format to: finalcut@labiennale.org.

7.3 Return of the films sent
The Festival is not required to return the films submitted for the selection process.

8.1 Invitation letter
The selected films will receive an Invitation letter they will need to accept by 9 July 2025. The Festival’s reception of the acceptance implies the legal approval of the invitation on the part of all those to whom it is sent; acceptance is considered final and binding.
The film’s invitation to participate in the program must remain completely confidential until the Festival program has been officially announced; failure to comply will result in the film’s exclusion from participation.

8.2 Copies and materials
The representatives of the invited films must send by 11 July 2025 all the informative material required for the brochure and the Venice Production Bridge website (synopsis, statement of intent, crew and cast list, director’s biography and complete filmography, photographs of the director and cast and scenes from the film in b/w or in color). It must be labelled “Material for VPB” and sent to: finalcut@labiennale.org.
A working copy that is further along with respect to the version submitted to the selecting commission can be sent.

The presenters of invited works must send the following by 12 August 2025:

· DCP in the original version with exclusively English subtitles  DCPs can be delivered via digital transfer or by physical hard drive (in the latter case, a backup copy will also be required).
· A link or a Blu-ray disc in the original version with exclusively English subtitles for exclusive internal use by the Festival services

Only in exceptional cases, which must be authorised in writing by the Director, the deadline set for 12 August 2025 may be extended. However, should the copies not be delivered to the Festival by 22 August 2025, the relevant screenings will be cancelled.
The Festival reserves the right to refuse any copy which, on advice of the Festival technicians, is considered to be of inadequate quality for public screening and/or alternatively to screen it clarifying to the audience the critical issues encountered.

Mailing address to which the screenings copies must be sent:

La Biennale di Venezia – Cinema Department
FINAL CUT IN VENICE
82nd VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Palazzo del Cinema, Lungomare Marconi
30126 Lido di Venezia

Tel. +39 041 5218878
Fax +39 041 5218854

8.3 Shipping costs
The full cost of sending the material to the Festival headquarters, including customs expenses as well as their return freight, will be borne by the applicant.

The Festival will cover trip expenses and accommodations for the directors, and accommodations for one producer, for each of the selected films, for four nights (August 30 to 3 September 2025).

Films which are selected and awarded one or more workshop prizes must indicate the authorized logo and the phrase “With the support of the Final Cut in Venice program” in the opening credits of the film (if other film partners appear in the opening credits), in the poster’s logos block and in all promotional material. As a binding condition, in the closing titles the authorized logo and the phrase “With the support of the Final Cut in Venice program” must appear in the foreground, with the logos of the program partners who gave the prizes smaller in the background. The film that will be awarded the Venice Biennale Prize has to display alongside the logo of the Festival also the sentence ‘La Biennale Prize Final Cut in Venice 2025’. The films selected for Final Cut in Venice and not awarded will have to report on the credits the logo of the Festival with the phrase “The film took part in the Final Cut in Venice program”.

Participation in the Final Cut in Venice program constitutes unconditional adherence to these Regulations. The producers, distributors or other subjects submitting the film must ensure they are legitimately entitled to enter the film.

The Festival Director reserves the right to settle any case not covered by these Regulations, and to waive the Regulations in special and well-motivated instances. In case of dispute regarding the interpretation of the single articles of the Regulations, the original text written in Italian is to be considered final.