Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup

Hey travelers, looking for about Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup? Let's find out in this complete post by Venice Insider Guide.

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival 2026 is nearly here, and the lineup has cinema lovers counting down the days. Running from September 2 to 12, 2026, at the Venice Lido, this year's edition of the world's oldest film festival promises an extraordinary slate of world premieres, auteur-driven storytelling, and star-powered productions all vying for the prestigious Golden Lion.

The Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup features twenty-one films competing in the main competition, with actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal presiding over the jury.

We've analyzed the complete festival program to identify the films generating the most buzz among critics, industry professionals, and cinephiles worldwide.

Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup: How to Choose which to See

So, what is the program of the Venice Film Festival 2026? First, you need to know many of the most anticipated films.

How to choose which movie to go see out of all the ones on the Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup? Here are the features to follow and our recommendations.

Director prestige and previous festival success. Returning masters and award-winning filmmakers carry weight. Films directed by auteurs with proven Venice or Oscar track records naturally generate outsized anticipation.
Star power and cast appeal. A-list ensembles draw global attention and signal high production ambition.
Cultural relevance and timely themes. The festival highlights a notably strong political theme among its entries this year, and films tackling urgent social questions tend to resonate far beyond the Lido.
Awards season potential and distribution deals. Venice has served as an early bellwether for the Oscars for decades, and competition category placement matters.
Social media engagement and press coverage volume. Pre-festival buzz from outlets like Screen Daily offers a reliable temperature check.

Venice Film Festival 2026 - Top Guests to Watch Out For

Here first of all are the long-awaited guests of the Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup:

George Clooney – The Legend Award
Ellen Burstyn - The Legend Award, and for Flesh Impact (Out of Competition – Short Films) and for Place To Be (Out of Competition - Feature Films)
Russell Crowe for What Love Builds, a film he's directing (Out of Competition – Documentary)
Gael Garcia Bernal for Hombre al Agua, which is getting the Venice Spotlight treatment
Liam and Noel Gallagher for Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, a documentary (Out of Competition)
John Malkovich for Wild Horse Nine, competing in the main competition
Sam Rockwell for Wild Horse Nine (Main Competition)
Steve Buscemi for Wild Horse Nine (Main Competition)
Casey Affleck for Company, a film he himself directed (Main Competition)
Nick Nolte for Company (Main Competition)
Kate Mara for Bucking Fastard (Main Competition)
Rooney Mara for Bucking Fastard (Main Competition)
Orlando Bloom for Bucking Fastard (Main Competition)
Guy Pearce for Ink, starring in the Opening Gala
Claire Foy for Ink, Opening Gala
Jack O’Connell for Ink, Opening Gala
Dakota Johnson for Flesh Impact (Out of Competition – Short Films)
Mia Wasikowska for Agata the Writer, from the "Giornate degli Autori" section
Penélope Cruz for Bunker, in the main competition
Javier Bardem for Bunker (Main Competition)
Stephen Graham for Bunker (Main Competition)
Paul Dano for Bunker (Main Competition)
Patrick Schwarzenegger for Bunker (Main Competition)
Louis Garrel for Succederà questa notte (Main Competition)
Vincent Lindon for Un Bon Petit Soldat (Main Competition)
Robert Pattinson for Primetime (Main Competition)
Alicia Vikander for The Echo Chamber (Main Competition)
Susan Sarandon for The Echo Chamber (Main Competition)
Kiefer Sutherland for Father Joe, a feature film (Out of Competition - Feature Films)
Al Pacino for Father Joe (Out of Competition - Feature Films)
Sofia Boutella for The Basics of Philosophy (Out of Competition - Feature Films)
Taika Waititi for Place To Be (Out of Competition - Feature Films)
Saoirse Ronan for Paper Plane (Orizzonti - Short Films)Festival di Venezia 2026 - The Run Down on the 2026

Below we delve into the Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup, divided into sections:

The Main Concorso
The Outside of the Main Competition
Orizzonti
Venezia Classici
Venezia Final Cut
Venezia Spotlight
Biennale College Cinema
Various Other Sections and Mini Festivals in the Works

Concorso - The Main Event

Wednesday, 2 September - Danny Boyle brings us Ink - a Regno Unito film to kick off the festival.
Thursday, 3 September - Werner Herzog has a new one out, Bucking Fastard, from Ireland and the USA.
Thursday, 3 September too - Martin McDonagh is back with Wild Horse Nine, another wild ride from the UK, the USA, and Chile.
Friday, 4 September - Cédric Kahn brings us his latest, 15/18 (A Place to Heal), from France.
Friday, 4 September - Shinya Tsukamoto has something new up his sleeve in Nelson San, Anata ha hito wo koroshimashitaka? from Japan, the USA, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Saturday, 5 September - Lance Oppenheim has a film in competition - Primetime.
Saturday, 5 September - Succederà questa notte, a co production from Italy, France, and Spain courtesy of none other than Nanni Moretti.
Sunday, 6 September - Lee Chang-dong brings us Ga-neung-han Sa-rang (Possible Love), a film from South Korea.
Sunday, 6 September - Andrea Pallaoro brings us The Echo Chamber, a collaboration between Italy and Belgium.
Sunday, 6 September - Another South Korean film by May el-Toukhy, Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown), made in conjunction with Denmark, Sweden and Latvia.
Monday, 7 September - Hirokazu Koreeda brings another film to the table, this time Look Back, from Japan.
Monday, 7 September - Paolo Strippoli brings L'estranea, a co production between Italy, France, and Belgium.
Tuesday, 8 September - Florian Zeller brings Bunker, a French and Spanish co production.
Tuesday, 8 September - Casey Affleck has a film up, Company, a collaboration from the Canada and the USA.
Wednesday, 9 September - Ilya Khrzhanovsky brings us Dau, a tri national co production from Germany, France and Sweden.
Wednesday, 9 September - Stéphane Brizé is back with Un bon petit soldat, from France.
Wednesday, 9 September - Edoardo De Angelis brings us Il fuoco che ti porti dentro, a film from Italy.
Thursday, 10 September - Un peu avant minuit, a French production courtesy of Nicolas Pariser
Thursday, 10 September - A Palestinian co production - Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor bring us NAZA
Friday, 11 September - Kami Nour (A Bit of Light), a co production from Iran, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and Turkey courtesy of Ali Asgari.
Friday, 11 September - Ritorno a Buenos Aires, a collaboration between Italy and Brazil courtesy of Marco Bechis.

Fuori Concorso - Venice Open:

Pure Fiction

Thursday, 3 September - Gianni Amelio's Nessun dolore, a film from Italy.
Friday, 4 September - Paul Schrader brings The Basics of Philosophy, a US film.
Friday, 4 September - Alexandre Smia brings Jupiter, a French production.
Saturday, 5 September - Barthélémy Grossmann brings Father Joe, a French film.
Monday, 7 September - Arrested Memory, a collaboration between Taipei and Japan courtesy of Sabu
Monday, 7 September - Halkawt Mustafa brings us No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, a co production from Norway, Iraq, the UAE and Sweden
Thursday, 10 September - Mario Martone brings Scherzetto, an Italian production.
Friday 11 September - A Good Lawyer (Un bon avocat) by Tristan Séguéla (France)
Friday 11 September - Let us through, dear ancestors (Makikiraan po) by Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Saturday 12 September - God laughs by Giovanni Veronesi (Italy) - THE FINAL FILM

Non-fiction

Thursday 3 September - Everest: The Other Side by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin (USA, China, Nepal)
Thursday 3 September - Burgundy by Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw (France)
Friday 4 September - Queer Edward II by Theo Rollason (UK)
Friday 4 September - My Undesirable Friends: Part II - Exile (Ch. 1-2-3 & Ch. 4-5) by Julia Loktev (USA)
Saturday 5 September - The Road to Jericho by Amos Gitai (France, UK, Israel)
Saturday 5 September - Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger by Dylan Southern & Will Lovelace (UK)
Saturday 5 September - Imperium by Sergei Loznitsa (Germany, Italy, France, Lithuania)
Saturday 5 September - Al Mowaten Osama (Citizen Osama) by Ahmed Hassouna (France, Palestine)
Sunday 6 September - From Inside Out - The Architecture of Peter Zumthor by Wim Wenders (Germany, Switzerland)
Sunday 6 September - Biografia di Jorge Luis Borges (Biography of Jorge Luis Borges) P.1, P.2, P.3 by Mariano Llinás (Argentina)
Sunday 6 September - Holy Wood Dust by Victor Kossakovsky (Italy, Spain, Germany)
Monday 7 September - The Boatbuilders by Luke Lorentzen (USA)
Tuesday 8 September - Musk by Alex Gibney (USA)
Tuesday 8 September - Dust (Weichen) by Tsai Ming-liang (Taipei, Spain)
Wednesday 9 September - Union Town by Barbara Kopple (USA)
Wednesday 9 September - Letters from the Silenced Country (Listy) by Andrei Kutsila (Poland, Germany, Lithuania)
Thursday 10 September - Be Brave by Francesco Carrozzini (Italy)
Friday 11 September - What Love Builds by Russell Crowe (Australia)

Film on Films

Monday 7 September - The Pervert's Guide to Utopias by Sophie Fiennes (Ireland, UK)
Tuesday 8 September - Joie de vivre (Part 1 & Part 2) by Luca Guadagnino (Italy)
Tuesday 8 September - A vacation for Juso by Karen Di Porto (Italy)
Wednesday 9 September - Twist & Shoot Mister Suzuki by Yves Montmayeur (France)
Friday 11 September - Nino - A film about Nino Rota by Walter Fasano (Italy)
Friday 11 September - Intermission by Yonfan (Hong Kong SAR)

Short Films

Monday 7 September - Flesh Impact by Maggie Gyllenhaal (USA)
Monday 7 September - Halayon (Wild Asparagus) by Avi Mograbi (Portugal, France)
Monday 7 September - They're Here by Laura Poitras, Rachel Lauren Mueller (USA)

Series

Thursday 10 September - Sorry by Valerio Vestoso (Italy)

Special Events

Tuesday 8 September - Top of the Class by Andrea Ricciotti (Italy)
Friday 11 September - From our correspondents. RAI takes a look at the Venice film festival 2001-2012 by G. Giannotti, E. Salvatori, N. Berardi (Italy)
Saturday 12 September - The wish to be useless – Hugo in Venice by Stefano Knuchel (Switzerland)

Orizzonti

Feature Films

Wednesday, 2 September - The girl with the Leica by Alina Marazzi (Italy, Germany) OPENING FILM
Thursday, 3 September - Moragheb (Falling House) by Mohsen Gharaei (Iran, USA, Germany)
Thursday, 3 September - Too Much Sugar by Robert Greene (USA)
Friday, 4 September - The House of the Wind by Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu (Cameroon, France)
Friday, 4 September - The City of the Living by Edoardo Gabbriellini (Italy)
Saturday, 5 September - Eklipse by Manuel Wetscher (Austria, Italy)
Saturday, 5 September - A little detour by Diane by Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni (Belgium, France)
Sunday, 6 September - The Difficult Bride by Rubaiyat Hossain (France, Bangladesh)
Sunday, 6 September - Oase (Oasis) by Jannis Lenz (Germany, Austria)
Monday, 7 September - Yak Mai (The Burning Giants) by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thailand, France)
Monday, 7 September - The children of the monkey by Tommaso Landucci (Italy)
Tuesday, 8 September - A day in the life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra by Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece, Germany)
Tuesday, 8 September - A story by Anna Foglietta (Italy)
Wednesday, 9 September - The muddy by Jérôme Pierrat (France)
Wednesday, 9 September - The color of the sun by Xavier Tera (Canada, Italy, Japan)
Thursday, 10 September - What belongs to others by Grzegorz Dębowski (Poland)
Thursday, 10 September - Until the day ends by Jelena Maksimović (Serbia, Bulgaria)
Friday, 11 September - Big Little Things by Michelle Zhou (Hong Kong, USA)
Friday, 11 September - Lovers in the blue night by Anuparna Roy (India, USA)

Short Films in Competition

Thursday, 3 September - A man-made lake by Annie Ning (USA, China)
Thursday, 3 September - Blue Angelo by Tommaso Acquarone (Italy)
Thursday, 3 September - A fortress by Alba Gaviraghi (Chile)
Thursday, 3 September - Paper Plane by Saoirse Ronan (UK, Ireland)
Thursday, 3 September - Far, blue by Amir Houshang Moein (France)
Thursday, 3 September - Moth-mama by Jessica DiCosta (Australia)
Thursday, 3 September - A few moments of happiness by Shaden Safieddine Tazi (France, UK)
Thursday, 3 September - Stone, paper, scissors by Virginia Mori (Italy, France)
Thursday, 3 September - Test piste by Lydia Cornett (Hungary, UK)
Thursday, 3 September - Tropic of the mourning gecko by Stavros Markoulakis (Greece, France)
Thursday 3rd September - Head of a Camel by Shannon Lee (USA)
Thursday 3rd September - Powers by Salim Jaller (Colombia, France - he's got an international background after all)
Thursday 3rd September - Silence by Pavlo Shpegun - some film from Ukraine

Short Films Out of Competition

Thursday 3 September - The Sense of the Earth by Alessandro Ingaria, Simone Massi (Italy)
Thursday 3 September - Sounds from Home (Sounds from Home) by Nathan Silver (France, USA)

Venezia Classici

Restored Films

Tuesday 1 September - With Heart in Throat by Tinto Brass (Italy, 1967) - PRE-FESTIVAL FILM
Thursday 3 September - Minnie and Moskowitz by John Cassavetes (USA, 1971)
Thursday 3 September - The Catch by Shinji Sōmai (Japan, 1983)
Friday 4 September - Farewell to Yesterday (The Girl Without a Past) by Alexander Kluge (Germany, 1966)
Friday 4 September - To Be or Not to Be ( Do We or Don't We?) by Ernst Lubitsch (USA, 1942)
Saturday 5 September - Udju Azul di Yonta (The Blue Eyes of Yonta) by Flora Gomes (Guinea Bissau, Portugal, 1992)
Saturday 5 September - Viaggio in Italia (Journey to Italy) by Roberto Rossellini (Italy, France, 1953)
Sunday 6 September - The Long Night of '43 by Florestano Vancini (Italy, 1960)
Sunday 6 September - Cul-de-sac (Dead End) by Roman Polanski (UK, 1966)
Monday 7 September - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Fantasy of a Thirteen Year Old) by Jaromil Jireš (Czech Republic, 1970)
Monday 7 September - Ashes and Diamonds (Cenere e Diamanti) by Andrzej Wajda (Poland, 1958)
Tuesday 8 September - The Story of a Police Officer by Ning Ying (China, 1995)
Tuesday 8 September - Illusion Travels by Bus (L'illusione viaggia in tranvai) by Luis Buñuel (Mexico, 1954)
Wednesday 9 September - English, August by Dev Benegal (India, 1993)
Wednesday 9 September - Dirty, Filthy and Bad by Ettore Scola (Italy, 1976)
Thursday 10 September - Los de la mesa 10 (The Guys from Table 10) by Simón Feldman (Argentina, 1960)
Thursday 10 September - The Wild Angels (Wild Bikers) by Roger Corman (USA, 1966)
Friday 11 September - The Story of Woo Viet by Ann Hui (Hong Kong, 1981)
Friday 11 September - Uncle from Brooklyn by Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco (Italy, 1995)

Venezia Final Cut

Fiction

Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - A Quarter to Thursday (Jeudi moins le quart) by Sofia Djama (France, Belgium , Algeria)
Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - Eldorado, the Taste of the South ( Eldorado, le goût du Sud) by Alaa Eddine Aljem (Morocco, France, Italy, Norway)
Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - Madi Makumbu by Machérie Ekwa Bahango (DRC, France, Belgium)
Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - Mehal Sefari by Abraham Gezahagne - the writer is based in Ethiopia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Saudi Arabia
Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - Occupational Hazards (Al Ihtilal Wa Al Hal) by Bassel Ghandour - he's from Jordan, Qatar, UK, Saudi Arabia & Palestine
Sunday 6 - Monday 7 September - Plague (Balaa) by Youssef Chebbi - the Tunisian writer has lived in Tunisia, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia & Slovenia

Venezia Spotlight

Thursday 3 September - Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing by Erik Shirai - opening film from Japan and USA
Friday 4 September - Furies by Rami Kodeih , a film from Brazil and Lebanon
Saturday 5 September - Serpenti by Roberto De Paolis Maino - an Italian film
Sunday 6 September - Hombre al agua by Gael García Bernal - a film from Mexico
Tuesday 8 September - Eu contez (I Matter) by Alina Șerban - a Romanian and German co-production
Wednesday 9 September - Guria by Levan Koguashvili - an international production from Georgia & Switzerland
Wednesday 9 September - Place to Be by Kornél Mundruczó - an Australian film
Thursday 10 September - Földszint (Ground Floor) by Gábor Reisz - an international Hungarian and Italian co-production

Biennale College Cinema

Thursday 3 September - Demetra in esilio by Maria Giovanna Cicciari - an Italian made short
Friday 4 September - Gu shi by Amie Song - a co-production from USA & Hong Kong
Saturday 5 September - Tijuana, todavía by Gabriel Gutierrez Morales - a Mexican film
Sunday 6 September - Moonfish by Daniel Zvereff - a US made film

Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup: Final Thoughts

The Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup represents one of the strongest programs the Mostra del Cinema di Venezia has assembled in recent memory.

This year's edition also carries meaningful symbolic weight. Lifetime Achievement Golden Lions are awarded to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn-two performers whose careers span the full spectrum of Hollywood and independent filmmaking, embodying the kind of creative restlessness that Venice has always championed.

Whether you're planning to attend in person, following along from home, or simply building a watchlist for the fall, the 83rd Venice Film Festival 2026 offers a road map for the most exciting cinema of the coming year. The notes from these eleven days in September will echo through awards season and beyond.

The closing ceremonies may bring the curtain down on Venezia 83, but the conversations these films ignite-about memory, love, power, faith, and the future-will last far longer than any festival run.

Start building your watchlist now. The Lido is waiting.

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