20th Queer Lion Award Lineup - In Progress

Today, August 19, organizers announced the feature films in Competition for the Queer Award. Still pending are Short Films in Competition as well as Out of Competition features and shorts. As soon as announces are made post will be updated with available info.

As we all know, the lineup of titles competing for the 2025 Queer Lion Award is compiled with the collaboration of Alberto Barbera, Angela Savoldi, and Paolo Bertolin for all the sections of the official selection, and in particular Venezia 83 Competition, Out of Competition, and Orizzonti); Michel Reilhac for Venice Immersive and Biennale College Cinema; Federico Gironi for Venice Classics; Gaia Furrer and Francesco Bonerba for Giornate degli Autori; and, Beatrice Fiorentino from Venice International Film Critics’vWeek.

They, along with award organizers, chose among the films with LGBT stories and characters dealing with civil rights issues related to different sexual orientations, equal opportunities, and fight against homotransphobia.

As always let's start taking a look at the official graphic image of the award and the reasons why this year the image is as seen here.

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23rd Giornate degli Autori Lineup

A few hours back organizers announced the activities tht will take place during the current edition of the Giornate degli Autori. This year the Giornate honors Giorgio Gosetti, the founder of the section in 2004 which during twenty-three uninterupted years was the guiding spirit of the organization and the general delegate of this independent sidebar of La Mostra. He passed last March.

To refresh our memory, the Giornate degli Autori was born in 2004, as an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, modeled on the prestigious ‘Directors’ Fortnight’ of the Cannes Festival and promoted by the associations of Italian film directors and authors (ANAC and 100autori). The aim of the event is to draw attention to high quality cinema, without any kind of restriction, with special care for innovation, research, originality and independence.

“This edition carries with it a deep void and a deep gratitude,” declares Artistic Director Gaia Furrer. “We owe to Giorgio the very idea for this free arena we inhabit, along with his faith in the new directions of cinema and his stubborn, loving determination to build and consolidate, year after year, a community of men and women filmmakers and audiences. This year, Giornate springs from the desire to honor this legacy by continuing to do what Giorgio taught us: seek out, discover, go wrong, become passionate about, and believe in cinema and in those who make it happen.”

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2026 Toronto International Film Festival Platform Lineup

Before today I have not write about Toronto fest as even do each year read what's going on, there was not much about new movies from around the world except USA. But everything changed when AMPAS decided TIFF was going to be one of the world film festivals where the winner of a prize will get an instant spot at the Oscars in the International Feature Film category.

In the case of TIFF is the non-English-language majority winner of the Plataform program the one to qualify to be considered for #Oscars2027 shortlist of 15. The fest until recently was a non-competitive festival and became competitve thanks to this section. For those who do not know, the program was created 11 years ago and gets its name from Jia Zhang-ke's ground breaking second feature, Platform.

AMPAS selection it also implied changes to Platform as now the lineup has expanded to 12 films as well as the jury which was expanded to a five-member international jury. All 12 films are World Premieres.

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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

Update July 23. Today was the very long press conference where many films were announced in the different sections of the Official Selection. In particular there are 20 films In Competition and perhaps one more could be announced to reach the 21 films maximum in this festival section.

A total of 4740 films and projects were submitted, 1972 feature films, 2500 short films, 60 restored Classics and 208 Immersive Projects.

This edition has 88 new feature films in the Official Selection, 20 in #Venezia83 Competition, 36 in Venice Open - Out of Competition with 25 being non-fiction films, 1 Special Screening, 19 films in Orizzonti, 8 in Venice Spotlight, and 4 in Biennale College - Cinema.

There are 18 new short films, 14 in Orizzonti, 2 in Orizzonti Out of Competition, and 3 in Venice Open - Out of Competition. Also 1 TV series in Venice Open, 19 restored feature films in Venice Classics, and 68 projects in Venice Immersive. It is a very large Official Selection that comes from 62 countries.

This year #Venezia83 Competition has only 1 female director and 19 male directors, which is a steep plunge from last year when there where 5 or 7 in 2024.

Most of the 20 In Competition films can be found in the #Venezia83 Rumors blog post and none is more relevant than the inclusion of Bucking Fastard by Werner Herzog that perhaps remember was supposed to be in the 2026 Cannes Premerie section; but, apparently was withdrawn from participation as was not included in the Cannes Competition section. Well, Venice said yes to be In Competition and now we will be able to watch Kate and Rooney Mara in the red carpet.

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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 30th. Finally the first country submission was announced and it was Slovakia! Not much after was Turkey and then Kosovo, definitively the category is active and will be until the end of September when AMPAS category deadline is set.

On the Festivals side there has been some news with Toronto and Sundance announcing that their Oscars qualifying award competition has been increased to 12 films which gives more opportunity to non-English to participate along with the inevitable only English-language films. Now is only Busan the one not in the clear; but, around October we will uncover what will happen from now on with the Korean festival and the Oscars.

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.

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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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