41st Venice International Film Critics' Week Lineup

As happen last year la Settimana announced their lineup before the official press conference for #BiennaleCinema2026 so, it's not a surprise and perhaps now is going to be the norm.

The 2026 Settimana Internazionale della Critica Artistic Director Beatrice Fiorentino does a very interesting and complex introduction to the current edition based upon what she calls "Rewriting the Canon". The video below has the complete introduction in Italian with English subtitles that do recommend to watch, but if you wish to read for better comprehension got to official site here.

Here are two excerpts.
"In these circumstances, curating a festivall program is an act of great responsibility. A festival is not a neutral bubble: asserting our cultural activism by deciding which films to showcase and which to exclude, means considering the act of selection a Godardian feat: making a political decision, just as films are meant to be made politically".
"The program of the 2026 edition is making a clear statement, with its plurality of origins already charting a possible course forward".

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83rd Venice International Film Festival Lineup - In Progress

Yesterday, Friday July 10 La Mostra started to unveil their lineup with the Orizzonti Short Films Competition, with a selection of 15 short films, 13 in competition and 2 out of competition. So, the very long post has begun and will be In Progress until the festival uploads to their site info about each film, which usually happens one or two weeks before the opening of the festival.

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#Venezia83 Rumors

June is about to end and there are not many official news from organizers of the 2026 Venice International Film Festival; but, buzz is starting to go on high gear with possible films that will make #Venice83 competition and any other official or parallel section of the festival. Still, strangely enough, the full #Venice83 Competition jury has been announced before anything else and later, the Pre-Opening film.

But first lets start with some festival key dates.
June 4 was deadline for feature-length films late submission
July 13 - Press conference - lineup announcement. Date changed to "end of July".
September 2 - Opening Ceremony
September 12 - Awards Ceremony

Followed by a rapid reminder about the festival sections according to festival's 2026 brochure. According to last year's brochure and current brochure there are some changes; Out of Competition section has 10 more films, from 20 to 30, and Venezia Spotlight has 2 less, from 10 to 8.

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99th Academy Awards International Feature Film Submissions

Update July 2nd. According to Variety, Fjord by Cristian Mungiu USA distribution rights owner Neon confirmed that movie meets Academy's requirements for non-English language submissions; so, for now, until the list of approved films is released -which will confirm or not Neon's statement-, Fjord complies with Oscars International Feature Film requirements.

May 25, 2026
Cannes is over and it's time to address what's going on with this #Oscars2027 category that got huge changes in its core composition by including winners from some film festivals.

So far in 2026 there are three qualifying film festivals with a top winner, Sundance, Berlinale, and Cannes. The first two have winners NOT in the English language thus are already submitted to be considered for a spot in the short list of 15 films that will be announced on December 15, 2026 and one is now in question for the amount of English in film.

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79th Festival de Cannes Award Winners

Update May 24. It is over one more year and now one year waiting to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the greatest of all festivals.

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Huge Changes to Oscars International Feature Film Category

Yesterday the Academy made big waves by changing rules for several Oscars categories but none are as significant as the changes in the International Feature Film category that will open to not only films submitted by countries or regions, but also to non-English films winners of top awards in the three major film festivals plus 2 more festivals. In other words, a single country or region could now land multiple nominations for Best International Feature Oscar.

Hope I'm mistaken but now surely will be controversy on how many film festivals are included in the qualifying list and my personal doubt is why Toronto and Sundance are in the list and not San Sebastian, Sarajevo, Karlovy Vary or Locarno? Well, let's hope they open the door only and in the future there will be more film festivals listed. Sigh!

Undoubtedly change generated out of the controversy or frustration when 2023 Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall was not eligible for the category as France sent a different film, plus the fact that each year there are more films that will/could not be sent by the country where it was filmed due to geo-political conflicts and are major film award winners like for example, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and It Was Just an Accident that were filmed in Iran but both film directors are Iranian dissidents.

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16th Queer Palm Selection

Update May 8. There are only five films in the Short Film selection, so organizers decided that the winners of the Queer Palm Lab 2025/2026 will be the jury for short films competition. Post has become final as all films info is available at festival official site.

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Update May 6. Cannes Classics brings one more film to the Queer Palm Competition for a total of 22 feature films. The film is L'Âge d'Or (The Golden Age) by Bérenger Thouin.

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April 30
A few minutes ago organizers started to publish the Queer Palm Selection from films in all sections of Cannes 2026. They started with feature films and imagine will later follow with short films and perhaps documentaries.

So, I'm starting this post that will be In Progress until films are at official festival site.

The 2026 edition of the Cannes LGBT+ award is the 16th and there is no doubt that what once was a sidelined award has become integral part of the festival. It wasn't easy for award organizers to get to where they are now, but perseverance and tolerance has made this award to not only survive but thrive. Congrats!

The Poster

Kwir Nou Éxist explores the emergence of Réunion’s young queer community, its bond to the island’s territory and to the lives that came before it. Developed over five years by Raya Martigny and Édouard Richard, the project weaves together photography, archives and video.

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58th Quinzaine des Cinéastes Selection

Update April 24th. As expected a new addition to Quizaine Selection, a Special Screening, Les Roches Rouges (Red Rocks) by Bruno Dumont followed by a masterclass with the filmmaker.

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Today, Tuesday, April 14, Julien Relj, Artistic Director, announced the selection for the 2026 edition and yes, some films expected in #Cannes2026 Official Selection ended up here like films by Kantemir Balagov, Lisandro Alonso, Clio Barnard, Radu Jude, and Dominga Sotomayor. Most surprising fact is Quentin Dupieux having to movies in Cannes, one in the selection and one closing la Quinzaine!

Before going into the list lets star with a brief reminder of what this Cannes parallel section is all about.

La Quinzaine

Created in 1969 by the Société des Réalisatrices et Réalisateurs de Films (SRF), the Directors’ Fortnight is an independent sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, which is dedicated to showcasing the most singular forms of contemporary cinema. The name of the section was changed in 2023 from Quinzaine des Réalisateurs to Quinzaine des Cinéastes, the international version in English did not change.

As opposed to the official selection, the Fortnight is non-competitive; it brings together short, medium- and feature-length films, fiction and non-fiction, live action and animation. Only one principle guides our selection: a filmmaker’s attendance to mise en scene, and their unique mode of artistic expression.

The Fortnight values freedom of thought and the invention of new forms of dialogue, of narrative, of representation, and of editing. We are also very attentive to propositions that reinvent cinematic genres which, traditionally, have been more popular.

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2026 L'ACID Selection

A few minutes ago General delegate Pauline Ginot announced the selection for ACID, Cannes parallel section run by France's Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (l'ACID); ACID is an association of film directors which, since 1992, has been promoting the cinema distribution of independent films and encouraging debates between authors and audiences. The strength of the solidarity chain it has built lies on its founding principle: the support given by filmmakers to other filmmakers, French or international.

The selection committee with 13 members screened more than 600 films and programmed 9 of them. Amongst them, 6 first and 3 second or more feature films, 5 fictions, 1 fiction/doc hybrid and 3 documentaries, and as every year, a particular attention given to films without distributors. In particular, this year there are 2 films with a strong Iranian identity, which undoubtedly reflects the times we are living.

As they say, “This year’s program reflects both the alarming madness of our time and our boundless capacity to cope. Questioning our institutions, understanding the feeling of exile, rethinking our relationship to the places we inhabit and the people around us; striving to please at all costs, dying to better reinvent ourselves, and allowing a camera to reveal the world as we have dreamed it: whether through humor, fiction, or attention to detail, filmmakers expose the dysfunctions that permeate our societies and their impact on each of us. The films presented are all gestures that bring us together, stories rooted in a poetic, joyful, unexpected, but above all, free and unformatted reality. They thus appear as powerful acts of resistance—and hope.”

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65th Semaine de la Critique Lineup

Update April 15, 2026. Short Films Selection was announced and are listed below. Post has become final.

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April 13, 2026
A few minutes ago Ava Cahen, Artistic Director, announced the feature film selection for the 2026 edition of the Critics' Week. Take note that the short film selection will be announced on April 15 and is when this post in progress will become final.

Most important is to remember that La Semaine de la Critique - the parallel selection of the Cannes film festival dedicated to first and second films - will be held in Cannes from May 13th to 21st 2026.

For the past 65 years, La Semaine de la Critique has been supporting the first steps of short- and feature-film directors from across the world with unwavering passion; paying close attention as artists venture off the beaten path to reinvent storytelling and experiment with new cinematic language.

Each new generation contributes to the history of cinema. It is captivating to see it unfold – an endless source of joy for La Semaine de la Critique to be carried away by these filmmakers’ imagination.

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79th Cannes Film Festival Lineup

Update May 8. Yesterday the Cinéma de la Plage program was announced via press release and with 11 films.

With this update the post becomes final as info about all films is available at official site. That's it, unless festival releases extraordinary news. There are only four days to festival's opening day and let the major annual cinephiles feast begin!

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Update May 6. Yesterday the Cannes Classics program was released with 2 new films, some short films including one by Jia Zhang-ke, and some documentaries plus some restored films. The list is at bottom of this post.

Worth highlighting is that restored El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) by Guillermo del Toro will be presented as a pre-opening screening of the festival on May 12 at 2:30 in the Debussy Theater in the presence of Guillermo del Toro and in a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the film's World Premiere.

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La Fabrique Cinéma 2026 Selection

La Fabrique Cinéma is a program created by the Institut français, in partnership with France Médias Monde and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, to promote the emergence of young filmmakers from developing and emerging countries on the international market.

Conceived in close collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival and its Marché du Film, La Fabrique Cinéma de l'Institut français selects each year ten 1st or 2nd feature film projects to present and introduce them in a privileged way to the industry and its decision-makers during the Cannes Film Festival.

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#Cannes2026 Wish List - Maybe French

Update: After noticing that most films I was choosing for this post are not by French directors, but are in the French-Language and/or have a relevant French cast decided to include all films that called my attention no matter if they can be called or not French.

So there could be films from France, Europe, Asia and any other world region with a film in the generic wish list, spoken in French totally, partially or not, with a French cast or not, filmed totally or partially in France or not, and is majority or minority French produced.

Nevertheless kept the original introduction that includes interesting info about the fest and French productions.

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There is no surprise that generic Wish List in The French section has the most films as many of you know I'm crazy about French "good" cinema and by good I mostly mean what some call cinéma d'auteur or non-commercial cinema. So choosing films to go in-depth is no easy task; still, there are some that even in such long list pop-out and shine, those will be mentioned here.

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#Cannes2026 Wish List - The Nordics

As promised to some blog regular readers, will do a more in-depth exploration of directors and their films I find interesting and hope will fulfill its promise when finally we are able to watch them. This time will go into regions and will start with a region that is producing the most fascinating, engaging and visually astounding long-form films, otherwise called TV series (lol), the Nordics.

In the generic #Cannes2026 Wish List there are 8 films that possibly will be ready for 2026 screening as in paper have high potential to be accepted in any world film festival and a few have impeccable credentials like Romanian Cristian Mungiu, Icelandic Hlynur Pálmason (not ready for Cannes), and Danish Nicolas Winding Refn. But lets also consider two young newcomers like Swedish-Costa Rican Nathalie Alvarez Mesén (her film Clara Sola was in #Cannes2021 Quinzaine) and Swedish Amanda Kernell (her film Sami Blood was in #BiennaleCinema2016 Giornate degli Autori).

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#Cannes2026 Wish List

What's New, March 25- El Deshielo by Manuela Martinelli.

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As the date of the lineup announcement press conference is known, April 9 at 11:00am Paris time, the Cannes guessing game is open for a bit more than one month and the Wish List is made out of cinema industry's buzz and fuzz.

This year will do a list with movies by continents and in each continent in complete mixture.  The mix will contain Cannes major contenders, potential contenders and those more likely will go to Venice or elsewhere.

But as some of you recall, truly this is a list of films that will become available to watch during 2026 and 2027 and as always, there are many films that in paper look fantastic with very well-known directors and a showcase of many of my favorite directors like Reygadas, Almodovar, Farhadi, Bagalov, Moretti, Palmason, Hamaguchi among a few more.

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