Final Cut in Venice, the Venice Film Festival industry program supporting works in progress from all African countries and Middle East territories Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, has unveiled its 2025 selection.
They include documentary Legacy, the third feature from Senegalese director Mamadou Dia after Nafi’s Father, which won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section in 2019, and Demba, which played in Berlin in 2024.
Yemeni-UK director Sara Ishaq will present The Station, about a women-only petrol station in a gender-segregated, war-torn village in Yemen. It is her second feature after 2013 breakout documentary The Mulberry House.
The 13th edition of Final Cut in Venice will take place within the context of Venice’s Venice Production Bridge industry sidebar from August 31 to September 2.
The first two days of the program be dedicated to screenings of the selected films followed by one-to-one meetings between the producer and director teams and international film professionals, with the aim of securing post-production support as well as festival, sales and distribution partnerships.
Two of the selected projects are part of the VPB Focus on the UK and VPB Focus on Morocco this year.
For the ninth year, La Biennale di Venezia will give a prize of €5.000 for the best film in post-production, the three-person jury for which has yet to be announced. There will also be another 20 sponsored prizes aimed at supporting post-production and marketing.
The full Final Cut in Venice 2025 Selection:
FICTION
- HOUSE OF THE WIND (LA MAISON DUVENT) by Kouemo Yanghu Auguste Bernard (Cameroon, Benin, France, Belgium)
- MY SEMBA (MEU SEMBA) by Hugo Salvaterra (Angola)
- STANDING AT THE RUINS (AL WOQOOF AL AEL ATLAL) by Saeed Taji Farouky (Egypt, United Kingdom) – Focus on the United Kingdom
- THE STATION (AL MAHATTAH) by Sara Ishaq (Yemen, Jordan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar)
- YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP by Rakan Mayasi (Belgium, Lebanon,Palestine )
DOCUMENTARY
- LEGACY (SOLEIL, LUNE, ÉTOILES) by Mamadou Dia (Senegal, France)
- UNTITLED PROJECT FROM YEMEN by Mariam Al-Dhubhani (Yemen, Qatar, Norway, France)
- OUT OF SCHOOL (LA COUR DES GRANDS) by Hind Bensari (Denmark, Morocco) –Focus on Morocco
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