Venice International Film Critics’ Week has unveiled the nine debut features, all of in their world premiere, that will compete in the 36th edition of the independent and parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI), which includes the Brazilian film The Salamander / A salamandra by Alex Carvalho.
Starring Marian Fois, Maicon Rodrigues, and Anna Mouglais, the film follows Catherine who feels suffocated by the contrast between her feelings and real life, in the wake of years lost to the strains of her father’s care. She escapes to Brazil, hoping to reconnect with her sister. Finally unburdened, yet still unable to overcome her anxiety, she stumbles into an improbable relationship with an attractive young man. Gil represents a second chance to experience the life she could have lived, had things been different. Determined to start over, Catherine must decide whether to see her reinvention through to a violent and irrevocable conclusion.
Additionally, Venice Critics’ Week will also premiere the Italian film Mother Lode by Matteo Tortone, a magical realist drama about economic oppression set in the goldmines of the Peruvian Andes; and the Spanish-Colombian co-production They Carry Death / Eles Transportan a Morte a 1492-set costumer with parallel journeys at its narrative core, directed by Spanish duo Helena Giron and Samuel M. Delgado. The 36th edition of Venice International Film Critics’ Week will take place September 1-9, 2021.
