Miu Miu Women's Tales, the thirtieth short film is "Fragments for Venus" Directed by Alice Diop and presented at the Venice Film Festival
Premiering at the Giornate degli Autori during the Venice Film Festival 2025, "Fragments for Venus" is the new short film by French director Alice Diop for the Miu Miu Women’s Tales project. A Black woman walks through the galleries of a museum, closely observing the paintings in search of hidden meaning. Meanwhile, a voiceover recites titles and descriptions of artworks, revealing the place that Western art has often reserved for Black female bodies. Another woman wanders through the streets of Brooklyn, admiring the women around her as contemporary incarnations of a new Venus.
The Poetic Inspiration Behind Miu Miu Women’s Tales’ New Short
For this work, Diop drew inspiration from the poem Voyage of the Sable Venus (2015) by American writer Robin Coste Lewis, a text composed entirely of titles and catalogue entries from Western art, in which for centuries the Black female body was marginalized and objectified. “The time I spent in the United States, particularly my teaching experience at Harvard, allowed me to question what it means to be a French and Black woman in French society,” the director explains. "Fragments for Venus" thus becomes an act of self-representation and repair, a cinematic gesture that pays homage to the Black American artists who inspire her, from Claudia Rankine to Saidiya Hartman.
A Political and Intimate Gesture
Despite its 21-minute length, Alice Diop considers this short as important as her feature film "Saint Omer," which won awards in Venice in 2022. “The calm with which the film unfolds is already, in itself, a political act,” she emphasizes. At its core lies a reflection on the gaze: how we look and how we are looked at, a crucial theme in feminist film theory since the 1970s. “We, as Black people, come from this history of painting in which we were excluded. With this film I state that we are here, now, ready to express ourselves.” In the final part of the film, the music of Meshell Ndegeocello introduces the figure of poet Audre Lorde, evoked through the spoken word piece Thus Sayeth the Lorde. A powerful presence that transforms poetry into an act of resistance and rebellion against contemporary injustice. “This is an essential film today,” says Diop, “in the face of rising authoritarianism, racism, and bigotry.”
The Presentation in Venice
During the Giornate degli Autori at the Venice Film Festival 2025, Miu Miu Women’s Tales presented a rich program of screenings and conversations. On August 30, the joint premiere of Joanna Hogg’s "Autobiografia di una Borsetta" and Alice Diop’s "Fragments for Venus," the newest episode in the series, took place. The following day, August 31, the audience attended two talks moderated by Penny Martin: the first with Alice Diop and Joanna Hogg, dedicated to the theme of cross-genre storytelling, and the second with Emma Corrin and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who reflected on how to reinterpret classics through a contemporary lens. Finally, on September 1, Myha’la, Alisha Boe, and Sarah Catherine Hook took the stage for a conversation on the power of female characters and binge-worthy performances that resonate with global audiences. Starting from September 15, 2025, the short film will be available to stream worldwide on MUBI and across Miu Miu’s digital channels.