Screen Ireland-supported documentary The Pervert's Guide to Utopias selected for Venice International Film Festival
Posted: 23rd July 2026
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is pleased to congratulate director Sophie Fiennes, Irish production company Keeper Films, and the entire creative team behind The Pervert's Guide to Utopias on its selection to the Venice International Film Festival. The Screen Ireland-supported documentary will receive its World Premiere in the festival's Venice Open - film on films strand.
Directed by Sophie Fiennes (Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami), The Pervert's Guide to Utopias is an Ireland-UK-Slovenia-Netherlands-Norway co-production. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek is our guide through landscapes of classic film, music, social media, archive and webcasts. Making unexpected twists and turns, he maps the utopian illusions of our times. Through absurd juxtapositions and startling insights, we are seduced into recognising our fate, in order to change it. “If aliens were to visit our earth and by chance ask me, ‘Could you explain to us what humanity is about?’” says Žižek, “I would not tell them, ‘go around and look,’ I would tell them, ‘look at these and these and these movies, and you will understand us.’” The Pervert’s Guide to Utopias concludes a two-decade collaboration between Sophie Fiennes and Slavoj Žižek, and completes a trilogy that began with The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006) and The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012).
The Pervert's Guide to Utopias was produced by Katie Holly and Evan Horan for Keeper Pictures; Shani Hinton; Martin Rosenbaum; Sophie Fiennes; Jožko Rutar; Ineke Kanters; Lisette Kelder; and Andrew Grant. Production companies are Keeper Pictures, P Guide, SPOK Films, The Film Kitchen and Mattima Films. The film was supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Netherlands Film Fund, Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film, Field of Vision, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, Creative Europe MEDIA, Arktisk Film Norge, VPRO, Radio Televizija Slovenija and Fritt Ord.
La Biennale di Venezia dates back to 1895 and celebrates excellence in visual arts, cinema, dance, music, theatre, and architecture. The Venice International Film Festival, established in 1932, is the oldest in the world and remains one of the most prestigious.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival will take place from 2-12 September 2026.