Uruguayan filmmakers Rodrigo Pla and Laura Santullo, Kiro Russo from Bolivia and Joaquín del Paso from Mexico will compete with their respective films in the Horizons section at the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 11. Horizons is the second-most important category at the festival, and includes films from around the world dedicated to new trends.

Del Paso competes with his feature film El hoyo en la cerca (The Hole in the Fence), a film critical of Mexico's education system. The Uruguayan duo Pla and Santullo compete with the film El otro Tom, which tells the story of a single mother, a troubled son and an absent father. Finally, the Bolivian Russo competes with his film El gran Movimiento. 

The Horizons competition also has a short film section, where Latin America is represented by Chileans Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña with Los huesos and Spaniard Mikel Gurrea with Hultzear.

Also participating in the new trends section are Les promesses by Thomas Kruithof; Atlantide by Italian Yuri Ancarani; Miracol by Bogdan George Apetri; Pilgrims by Lithuanian Laurynas Bareisa; Il paradiso del pavone by Italian Laura Bispuri, The falls by Taiwanese Chung Mong-Hong, AMira by Egyptian Mohamed Diab among many other works.

With excitement but with all the necessary protocols, this year the festival returns in-person after the health crisis. Spain's Pedro Almodóvar will open the Venice Film Festival with Parallel Mothers, a film with which he will also compete for the Golden Lion.