INTRODUCTORY NOTE
La Biennale di Venezia aims to carbon neutrality. This involves reducing and offsetting the emission of carbon dioxide through targeted actions that require the involvement and attention of all Festival participants. We would like to thank you in advance for your collaboration in achieving this ambitious goal, which will be reached through the individual behaviour of each of us.
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 material 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- which include, among various services, color correction, sound mixing, creation of a DCP master, and subtitles - will be awarded by final and irrevocable decision of the Festival Director and the Final Cut in Venice's supporters. The list of prizes will be published on the website around mid-March.
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 (expected min. length of each film: 60 minutes) 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. The link will be available from the 10th of March.
b) send a link with the password (valid at least until7 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.
