Venice Film Festival Unveils Sorrentino’s ‘La Grazia’ and a Mind-Blowing Coppola Salute to Werner Herzog—Is This the Cosmic Collision Cinema Craved?
Added on August 27, 2025 inMovie News Cards
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So, picture this: under the mysterious sway of Neptune’s dreamy fog—Venice’s timeless canals mirrored a night brimming with cinematic magic and cosmic synchronicity. The 2025 Venice Film Festival didn’t just open; it launched like a celestial celebration of artistry and audacity as the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, ever the showman, took to the iconic Sala Grande stage to crown Werner Herzog with the festival’s highest accolade—the honorary Golden Lion. Hand in hand, these titans of film history not only stepped onto the red carpet but also into a living legend moment, reminding us all that when stars align—both in the sky and on screen—cinema transcends mere storytelling. With Herzog’s wild, poetic filmography flashing on screen and Coppola’s cheeky challenge ringing in the air, you gotta wonder—is this a cosmic dare for the next visionary, or just two film gods having a grand old time? Venice’s water taxis weren’t just ferrying stars this night; they were carrying the pulse of filmmaking’s fearless spirit, shimmering under starlit skies. Fascinatingly, as the heavens whispered Neptune’s secret, so did Herzog whisper of deeper truths, loyalty, and courage—the true magic ingredients of this venerable fest. Buckle up, folks—the festival’s just gotten started, and if you think this is the peak, think again… LEARN MORE
The 2025 edition of the world’s oldest film festival kicked off with a poignant moment of movie history Wednesday night as American film legend Francis Ford Coppola took the stage inside Venice’s Sala Grande cinema to present German uber-auteur Werner Herzog with an honorary Golden Lion, the event’s highest honor for lifetime achievement.
The two cinema legends — Coppola is also a Venice film festival Golden Lion honoree from 1992 — adorably walked hand in hand down the red carpet to the openingnight ceremony.
Herzog’s moment in the Venice spotlight got underway with a video tribute to his gloriously eccentric filmography, spanning Fitzcarraldo; Grizzly Man; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; My Best Fiend; and so many more.
Presenting him with his statue, Coppola said he “came here to praise Werner Herzog, and it’s not enough to praise Werner Herzog. One must celebrate the fact that someone like him can actually exist.
“If Werner has limits, I don’t know what they are,” Coppola added. “Werner’s life and his very existence send a challenge to everyone out there: top me if you can! And all of us truly wonder if anyone ever will. Werner, I will eat my hat if anyone comes along who can do it.”
Herzog began his acceptance speech by expressing his gratitude to Coppola for his generosity and kindness over the years, noting that they had been friends for 50 years.
“He’s been generous, inviting me when I didn’t have money to pay for a hotel room. I stayed at his house in San Francisco and wrote my screenplay of Fitzcarraldo,” Herzog said. He went on to explain that it was Coppola who introduced him to his wife of nearly 30 years, adding that he hasn’t had an unhappy day since.
Herzog also shared that he and Coppola came close to making a film together “about the conquest of Mexico together seen from the perspective of the Aztecs.” Although the project never materialized, “it was a wonderful time when we plotted about it,” he added.
Speaking about his approach to his art and his career, Herzog said he had always “tried to strive for something that goes deeper beyond what you normally see in movie theaters, going to a deep form of poetry that is possible in cinema, searching for truth in unusual ways. Truth is always somehow in cinema, it’s mysterious and elusive, and I always tried to do something which was sublime or something transcendental.
“This may sound a little bit lofty. So in fact, I do believe that all this has much simpler reasons. I always wanted to be a good soldier of cinema, and that means perseverance, it means loyalty, it means courage, and it means a sense of duty. And this is ultimately, is what brought me here.”
Venice festival director Alberto Barbera put it succinctly when he first revealed his plans to honor the New German Cinema pioneer, hailing how Herzog “has never ceased from testing the limits of film language, belying the traditional distinction between documentary and fiction.” He added: “A brilliant narrator of unusual stories, Herzog is also the last heir of the great tradition of German romanticism, a visionary humanist, and a tireless explorer.”
Herzog added that he hasn’t “come to Venice empty-handed.” His latest documentary, Ghost Elephants, is showing out of competition in Venice.
Coppola is also featured in the festival’s screening lineup this year — as the subject of Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis’ feature documentary, Megadoc, a behind-the-scenes chronicle of the making of Megalopolis, the cinema lion’s experimental epic from last year. Sofia Coppola, who was by his side in the Sala Grande on Wednesday night, also returns to Lido later in the week to unveil a documentary she directed about the fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
The festival then officially got underway with the well-received world premiere of Italian mainstay Paolo Sorrentino’s latest resplendent drama, La Grazia, which plays much like a thematic companion piece to his 2013 Oscar-winning breakthrough, The Great Beauty.
Sorrentino and his cast, led by inimitable Italian screen icon Toni Servillo, warmed up the Venice red carpet Wednesday for the parade of global movie stars who will alight at the Sala Grande by glamorous water taxi over the coming 12 days — including George Clooney (on behalf of Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly), Julia Roberts (Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt), Emma Stone (Yorgos Lanthimos’ Begonia), Dwayne Johnson (Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine), Mads Mikelson (The Last Viking), Squid Game star Lee Byun-hun (Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice), Jude Law (playing Vladimir Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin), and Jacob Elordi and Oscar Issac (Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein), among many others.
The 82nd Venice Film Festival will conclude when a jury led by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne reveals its pick for the winner of this year’s Golden Lion for best film on Sept. 6.
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