UK director Shalini Adnani’s feature debut Our Share Of Sand is among the nine features selected for Venice Critics’ Week, the independent sideb
UK director Shalini Adnani’s feature debut Our Share Of Sand is among the nine features selected for Venice Critics’ Week, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival.
Our Share Of Sand, backed by the BFI and Film 4, is one of seven world premieres in competition in the section. There are two additional out-of-competition titles.
Scroll down for the full Critics’ Week feature selection
The directorial debut of 2025 Screen UK-Ireland Star of Tomorrow Adnani follows 12-year-old Maya, who returns to rural India to reconnect with her estranged father. A tragic accident sees Maya become a key witness in a police investigation, with her father relying on her to absolve him.
The India-UK-Greece co-production is produced by Sara Bonakdar of Fifth Mirror Pictures, Alan McAlex of Suitable Pictures, Giorgos Karnavas of Heretic, Balthazar de Ganay and Michael Graf. Global Constellation handles world sales.
The lineup also includes Victor Di Marco and Marcio Picoli’s Brazilian drama London, about the eponymous disabled teenage man who works as a dominant in a fetish house, who receives the chance to understand his disability through an exam.
There are three Italian films in the selection: Tommaso Usberti’s France-Italy co-production Before The War is about a man who meets a Kosovar immigrant who changes his perspective on life; and out-of-competition titles Marco Santi’s Giaffa The Great, and Roan Johnson and Davide Pavanello’s Rider will open and close the section respectively.
In the press notes for the selection, artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino cited Wim Wenders’ 1991 essay The Logic of Image and stated, “every film is political”. Fiorentino also noted Wenders’ “famous about-turn” at the opening conference of this year’s Berlinale.
“Whilst the industry at large is grappling with its crises, these works are proof that cinema never stopped asserting its own cruciality, rejecting a preordained conformity of its canons to rediscover the thrill of risk-taking and an ardent faith in the power of storytelling,” she wrote.
The section will run from September 2-12, concurrently with the main festival. An international jury will award a €10,000 ($11,431) grand prize for the section, with an audience award and best independent producer award also presented.
Critics’ Week is independent from the main festival but receives support from it, as well as from the Italian Ministry of Culture.
Giornate degli Autori, the other independent Venice sidebar, will unveil its lineup this Wednesday, July 22, with the main festival lineup announced on Juy 23.
Venice Critics’ Week 2026 lineup
In competition
The End Of Times (Col) dirs. Bibiana Rojas Gomez, Juan David Cardenas
The H@llow Man (Tun) dir. Kamel Laaridhi
London (Bra) dirs. Victor Di Marco, Marcio Picoli
Meteorite (Col) dir. Sebastian Munera
Our Share Of Sand (Ind-UK-Gr) dir. Shalini Adnani
Before The War (Fr-It) dir. Tommaso Usberti
Zoom In, Zoom Out (China) dir. Dong Jie
Out of competition
Giaffa The Great (It) dir. Marco Santi – opening film
Rider (It) dirs. Roan Johnson, Davide Pavanello – closing film
