Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Venice >> 2017 >> International Critics' Week

Venice Film Festival 2017

View other Venice Film Festival Films by strand: Biennale College - Cinema, Cinema Nel Giardino, Horizons, Official Competition, Out of Competition, Venice Days

Pin Cushion Pin Cushion
Pin Cushion and Hunting Season
Crater (Country: Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Luca Bellino, Silvia Luzi; Writer: Luca Bellino, Silvia Luzi, Rosario Caroccia; Stars: Sharon Caroccia, Rosario Caroccia)
Rosario is a street vendor, who gives away soft toys to whoever draws a winning number. The war he has declared against his own destiny has the immature and indolent body of his 13-year-old daughter: She’s his weapon for survival. But success becomes an obsession, and talent becomes a punishment.
Drift (Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Helena Wittmann; Writer: Helena Wittmann, Theresa George; Stars: Theresa George, Josefina Gill)
Two women spend a weekend in the North Sea. One of them will soon return to her family in Argentina, whereas the other one will try to come a step closer to the ocean.
The Gulf (Körfez) (Country: Turkey, Germany, Greece; Year: 2017; Director: Emre Yeksan; Writer: Ahmet Büke, Emre Yeksan; Stars: Ulas Tuna Astepe, Serpil Gül, Müfit Kayacan, Merve Dizdar, Ahmet Melih Yilmaz, Cem Zeynel Kiliç, Damla Ardal)
Leaving behind a ruined career and a bitter divorce, Selim returns to his hometown. He runs into Cihan, a friend from the military service, an idler with a charming energy. As people start leaving Izmir due to a terrible smell caused by a mysterious maritime accident, Selim finds himself gradually drawn to a new world.
Hunting Season (Temporada De Caza) (Country: Argentina, US, France, Germany, Qatar; Year: 2017; Director: Natalia Garagiola; Writer: Natalia Garagiola; Stars: Germán Palacios, Lautaro Bettoni, Boy Olmi, Rita Pauls, Pilar Benitez Vivart)
A hunting guide tries to forge a relationship with his estranged son.
Poison - The Land Of Fires (Veleno) (Country: Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Diego Olivares; Writer: Diego Olivares, Marcello Olivieri; Stars: Luisa Ranieri, Massimiliano Gallo, Salvatore Esposito, Nando Paone, Gennaro Di Colandrea, Miriam Candurro, Marianna Robustelli)
Cosimo, a buffalo farmer, refuses to sell off his land to the family of the young mayor candidate. When he finds out he has a tumour caused by all the toxic waste that are illegally disposed of in the fields of the so-called “Land of Fires”, his wife decides to carry on his battle.
Closing gala
Pin Cushion (Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Deborah Haywood; Writer: Deborah Haywood; Stars: Lily Newmark, Joanna Scanlan, Loris Scarpa, Sacha Cordy-Nice, Bethany Antonia, Saskia Paige Martin, Sophia Tuckey, John Henshaw, Lennon Bradley, Aury Wayne, Charlie Frances, Isy Suttie)
Trouble brews after the unusually close bond between a mother and daughter is disrupted when they move to a new town.
Full Review
Opening gala
Sarah Plays A Werewolf (Sarah joue un loup-garou) (Country: Switzerland, Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Katharina Wyss; Writer: Josa Sesink, Katharina Wyss; Stars: Manuela Biedermann, Michel Voïta)
On stage 17-year-old Sarah gives it all. When she performs, there is an instant of suspense, a moment in which she appears to transform completely into her character. What lies behind Sarah’s radical stage presence? A dark secret she is trying to express.
Team Hurricane (Country: Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Annika Berg; Writer: Annika Berg; Stars: Ira Rønnenfelt, Maja Leth Bang, Mathilde Linnea Daugaard Jensen, Søren Pedersen, Ida Glitre, Sara Morling, Mia My Elise Pedersen, Eja Penelope Roepstorff, Zara Munch Bjarnum, Marcello Stramiss, Helle Bruun, Sine Brinkgaard Olsen)
A punk chick flick about teen girls that mixes highly stylised fictional elements with documentary material.
The Wild Boys (Les garçons sauvages) (Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Bertrand Mandico; Writer: Bertrand Mandico; Stars: Elina Löwensohn, Vimala Pons, Nathalie Richard, Sam Louwyck, Mathilde Warnier, Diane Rouxel, Christophe Bier, Anaël Snoek, Pauline Lorillard)
At the beginning of the 20th century, on the island of La Réunion, five adolescents of good families enamoured with the occult, commit a savage crime.
News

59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground

More news and features

Playing Now
Festival Image

Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:

Sands Film Festival
Weekend film event in St Andrews

Queer East

Visions du Réel
Swiss documentary showcase

Overlook Film Festival

New Directors/New Films
New York's celebration of new voices

In the Archive
Competition Picture


Archive of festival coverage.

Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.

Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.