London-based Chilean-Indian director Shalini Adnani’s debut feature, “Our Share of Sand,” about a 12-year-old girl named Maya who returns to rural India to reconnect with her estranged father, is among the featured entries in the upcoming Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week.

The section, dedicated to debut films from around the world, also includes two titles from Colombia: the fiction-documentary hybrid “El fin de los tiempo”, a political piece co-directed by Bibiana Rojas Gómez and Juan David Cárdenas that uses artificial intelligence and explores colonialism and capitalism in Colombian history, and the drama “Meteorito”, by Sebastián Múnera, about plans to build an amusement park.
on the grounds of the former estate of drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.

Italy also features prominently in the programming, with “Before the War,” by Paris-based Tommaso Usberti, about a young man named Guido raised in a racist environment in northern Italy who falls in love with a Kosovar immigrant named Sonia, installed in a competitive position.

Also from Italy is the section’s out-of-competition premiere, the existential noir “Giaffa the Great,” directed by Marco Santi, while the closer, also out of competition, is the Italian rap musical “Rider,” co-directed by Roan Johnson and the local music producer known as Dade (Davide Pavanello). “Rider” follows a young food delivery boy who delivers a huge order of sushi to a luxurious villa on the outskirts of Milan and is invited to stay the night.

The seven feature films competing at Venice Critics’ Week are all by new directors and all world premieres.

Completing the section competition is the Tunisian dystopian drama “The H@llow Man” by
Kamel Laaridhi, set in Tunisia in 2059, where a biochip regulates memory and suppresses emotions; Dong Jie’s Chinese drama “Zoom In, Zoom Out,” about a young video game designer who embarks on a journey to search for his missing roommate Gao by following a clue hidden in an online game; and the Brazilian drama “London,” by Victor Di Marco and Márcio Picoli, about a dilemma faced by a young disabled man.

“While the industry in general fights its crises, these works are proof that cinema never stopped affirming its own cruciality,” said the general delegate of Venice Critics’ Week, Beatrice Fiorentino, in a statement. “This cinema is fierce and independent, daring and vibrant, determined to remember that our collective imagination can, and in fact must, continue to be rewritten.”

All the works presented in the Venice Critics’ Week competition will compete along with the titles from the official selection for the festival’s Lion of the Future award, worth $100,000.

The 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place from September 2 to 12 and the official selection program will be announced on Thursday. See all the titles from Venice Critics’ Week below.

COMPETENCE

“The end of times”, Bibiana Rojas Gómez, Juan David Cárdenas (Colombia)

“The H@llow Man”, Kamel Laaridhi (Tunisia)

“London”, Victor Di Marco, Márcio Picoli (Brazil)

“Meteorite”, Sebastián Múnera (Colombia)

“Our part of sand”, Shalini Adnani (India, United Kingdom, Greece)

“Prima Della Guerra”, Tommaso Usberti (France, Italy)

“Zoom in, zoom out”, Dong Jie (China)

OUT OF COMPETITION

“Il Grande Giaffa”, Marco Santi (Italy) – Opening film

“Rider”, Roan Johnson, Davide Pavanello (Italy) – Closing film