The 83rd Venice International Film Festival, scheduled from 2 to 12 September on the Lido, has announced a competition slate that balances established auteurs with emerging voices. Artistic director Alberto Barbera presented the programme at a press conference in Rome, noting that cinema remains “a living organism, capable of constantly regenerating” despite declining theatrical audiences.
This year, the selection team reviewed approximately 4,500 films — up from 4,200 in 2025 — reflecting a vibrant global production landscape. Barbera emphasised that the chosen works engage with pressing contemporary themes: war, the climate crisis, migration, and social and family tensions.
Five Italian Films in the Golden Lion Race
Italy fields five entries in the main competition, a deliberate strategy to showcase both established and emerging national talent. The most anticipated return is that of Nanni Moretti, competing for the Golden Lion for the first time in 37 years with Succederà questa notte. Details remain tightly guarded, but the teaser features Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca, Hippolyte Girardot, and Angela Finocchiaro. A basketball scene evokes Moretti’s own Bianca, hinting at self-referential nods.
Other Italian contenders include Edoardo De Angelis’s Il fuoco che ti porti dentro with Vanessa Scalera, Andrea Pallaoro’s The Echo Chamber, Paolo Strippoli’s L’Estranea, and Marco Bechis’s Ritorno a Buenos Aires. The selection spans established auteur cinema and newer voices, underscoring the festival’s ambition to champion diverse Italian storytelling.
International Heavyweights
The international competition brings together some of the most acclaimed directors working today. Florian Zeller, Oscar winner for The Father, presents Bunker, a psychological thriller starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Martin McDonagh, known for The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, returns with Wild Horse Nine, featuring his frequent collaborator Sam Rockwell.
German master Werner Herzog offers Bucking Fastard, with sisters Kate and Rooney Mara in lead roles. Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Palme d’Or winner for Shoplifters, brings Look Back to the Lido. Cult Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto presents Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?, continuing the festival’s tradition of bridging global auteur cinema.
France is heavily represented with four competition films: Stéphane Brizé’s Un bon petit soldat starring Alba Rohrwacher and Vincent Lindon; Cédric Kahn’s 15/18 (A Place to Heal); Florian Zeller’s Bunker; and Nicolas Pariser’s Un peu avant minuit. Iranian director Ali Asgari, previously acclaimed in the Orizzonti section, makes his main competition debut with A Bit of Light. The only woman in the competition is Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, competing with her second feature, Woman Unknown. Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovskiy continues his ambitious Dau project with a new chapter devoted to Soviet physicist Lev Landau.
Out of Competition and Special Events
The out-of-competition programme is equally rich. Italian titles include Gianni Amelio’s Nessun Dolore with Alessandro Borghi, Valeria Golino, and Valerio Mastandrea. Mario Martone’s Scherzetto, based on Domenico Starnone’s novel, stars Toni Servillo as an elderly illustrator grappling with his lively grandson. Luca Guadagnino presents Joie de vivre, a monumental seven-hour documentary on Bernardo Bertolucci, which Barbera describes as “an experience you simply cannot tear your eyes away from”.
Francesco Carrozzini’s Be Brave, a documentary on Diesel founder Renzo Rosso, is notable as the first Italian feature-length documentary made entirely using artificial intelligence as a creative tool, while preserving the director’s full artistic control.
Lifetime Achievement and Opening Night
Danny Boyle will open the festival on 2 September with Ink, his Venice debut. The festival will also award Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn. Burstyn, star of The Exorcist and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More, will be honoured for her enduring contribution to cinema.
For those visiting Venice during the festival, the city offers more than red carpets. A recent feature on sunrise runs and mask-making in Venice’s artisan quarter provides an alternative perspective on the lagoon city. Meanwhile, local protests have also made headlines: Venice protesters greeted a US ambassador’s superyacht with ‘Make America Read Again’ signs, highlighting the city’s ongoing tensions between tourism, wealth, and local identity.
