Jim Jarmusch’s first feature since 2019 will have its world bow in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the event’s organisers confirmed Tuesday, placing Father Mother Sister Brother alongside new work from Yorgos Lanthimos, Guillermo del Toro and Kathryn Bigelow on the Lido this August 27–September 6.
The anthology triptych stars Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps, Tom Waits, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat, each segment tracing adult children and their fraught ties to a parent across the U.S., Ireland and France. MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel, who co‑financed the picture, told SXSW London that the streaming service will handle worldwide distribution after the festival play “because Jarmusch deserves a truly global stage.”
Running 110 minutes, the English‑language film was shot in 35 mm from November 2023 to April 2024 in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris, then finished at Brussels’ Studio L’Equipe earlier this summer. Production partners include Saint Laurent Productions, CG Cinéma, Animal Kingdom, The Apartment Pictures and Jarmusch’s own Badjetlag banner, with support from Screen Ireland and France’s CNC.
According to pitch materials unveiled by sales agent Playtime, the film leans on “quiet comedy threaded with melancholy,” returning Jarmusch to the familial vignettes that shaped Night on Earth while extending the understated grief of Paterson.
Festival watchers note the premiere will mark the Ohio‑born iconoclast’s first Venice competition slot, despite earlier Lido appearances with Only Lovers Left Alive (out of competition) and Coffee & Cigarettes (Horizons). In a field already thick with marquee names, programmers highlighted Jarmusch’s “singular tone” as vital to the lineup’s breadth, pointing to his multi‑generational cast and Saint Laurent’s couture‑inspired wardrobe as examples of “craft meeting intimacy.”
Early buyers see awards potential: MUBI plans a North American qualifying run in December, followed by a January 7 French release and staggered global roll‑outs timed to regional holidays. With the Venice slot now locked and post‑production complete, Father Mother Sister Brother positions Jarmusch for a high‑profile comeback, reinforcing the festival’s reputation as a launchpad for auteur‑driven Oscar hopefuls.
