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by Werner Herzog that perhaps remember was supposed to be in the 2026 Cannes Premerie section; but, apparently was withdrawn from participation as was not included in the Cannes Competition section.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.

Do not forget that the winner of the Golden Lion is automatically a submission to #Oscars2027 International Feature Film category IF English-language is not the majority spoken. Seems that there are a few only in English, while others have too little Spanish or other language; still there is a robust number of film that if win top award will directly to #Oscars2027.

There is NO doubt that American studios skipped not only Cannes but also Venice so they are skipping major film festivals this year and just wonder for how long they will do it as we really know that they really do not need the promotion but the screening could benefit the festival as with blockbuster there is larger press coverage of the festival in total. Still, there are some films with American Cinema A-Listers that will attract more coverage and somehow will generate larger buzz for the festival.

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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.

Among the news already released we find that these year there will be two hosts as Greta Scarano and Nicolas Maupas will host the Opening and Closing Nights of Venezia 83. Then George Clooney will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and Col Cuore in Gola (Deadly Sweet) by Tinto Brass from 1967 is the Pre-Opening Film of the current edition.

This year the festival will take place from September 2 to September 12, 2026 and the Press Conference with full lineup changed date to "last week of July".

The Poster

The official poster of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia was designed by Manuele Fior, one of the best-known Italian graphic novelists and illustrators in recent years. He shares the reason why behind the image as follows.

“When people who live in Venice, but also visitors, cast a distracted gaze toward the sky during the period that goes from the end of winter to early spring, they are enchanted by the backlit movement of wings of the many species of migratory birds that choose to winter and nest on the lagoon.
In recent years, wild geese, cormorants, and herons have repopulated the lagoon landscape and the island, and it’s not uncommon to see an ibis perched on the roof of a boat landing, scanning the canal waters in search of a mullet.
Venice is also visited and inhabited by an increasingly large community of pink flamingos. Their elegant silhouettes stand out against the sky at sunset, framed by the rooftiles, but for the poster of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, I imagined them on a nocturnal stroll illuminated by a movie set lamp, like unaware actors in a silent movie, a few steps away from the Palazzo del Cinema.
They parade one behind the other along the transparent carpet of the water’s edge, appearing under the light and then disappearing as they take flight, like frames in a film that was hidden and then rediscovered, to illuminate the starry screen of the nighttime sky.”

The Official Selection

#Venezia83 Competition
An International competition comprising a maximum of 21 feature-length films presented as world premieres.

Opening Film: Ink, Danny Boyle, USA, France and UK
15/18 (A Place to Heal), Cédric Kahn, France
Bucking Fastard, Werner Herzog, Ireland and USA
Bunker, Florian Zeller, France and Spain
Company, Cassey Affleck, Canada, USA, and UAE
DAU, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Germany, France, Ukraine, and Sweden
가능한 사랑 Ganeunghan Sarang (Possible Love), Lee Chang-Dong, South Korea
Il Fuoco che ti porti dentro (The Fire Within You), Edoardo de Angelis, Italy
کمی نور Kami Nour (A Bit of Light), Ali Asgari, Iran, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and Turkey
Kvinde, Ukendt (Woman, Unknown), May el-Toukhy, Denmark, Latvia and Sweden
L'estranea (The Spiral), Paolo Strippoli, Belgium, France and Italy
ルックバック Look Back, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
ネルソンさん、あなたは人を殺しましたか？ Nelson San, Anata ha hito wo koroshimashitaka? (Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?), Shinya Tsukamoto, Japan, USA, Thailand, and Vietnam
Primetime, Lance Oppenheim, USA
Ritorno a Buenos Aires (Back to Buenos Aires), Marco Bechis, Italy and Brazil
Succederà questa notte (It Will Happen Tonight), Nanni Moretti, France, Spain and Italy
The Echo Chamber, Andrea Pallaoro, Belgium and Italy
Un Bon Petit Soldat (A Good Little Soldier), Stéphane Brizé, France
Un Peu Avant Minuit (One Minute to Midnight), Nicolars Pariser, France
Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh, Chile, USA and UK

Competition Jury
President: Maggie Gyllenhaal, director, actress, screenwriter and producer, USA
Kaouther Ben Hania, director and screenwriter, Tunisia
Shahrbanoo Sadat, filmmaker, Afghanistan and Germany
Johnnie To, director and producer, Hong Kong
Xavier Giannoli, director and screenwriter, France
Daniel Blumberg, composer and artist, UK
Francesco Casetti, Film and Media Studies professor, Italy and USA

To check available info and trailer for films in Competition to MOC here.
To check available posters for films in Competition go to pinterest here.

Venice Open - Out of Competition

Works of various formats and types: films by established authors, non-narrative films, art house series and miniseries.

Fiction
Closing Film: Dio Ride (Good Laughs), Giovanni Veronesi, Italy
阿茲海默警探 Arrested Memory, Sabu, Taipei and Japan
Father Joe, Barthélémy Grossmann, France
Jupiter, Alexandre Smia, France
Makikiraan Po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Nessun dolore (No Pain), Gianni Amelio, Italy
No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, Halkawt Mustafa, Norway, Iraq, UAE, and Sweden
Place To Be, Kornél Mundruczó, Australia
Scherzetto (Trick), Mario Martone, Italy
The Basics of Philosophy, Paul Schrader, USA
Un bon avocat (The Good Lawyer), Tristan Séguéla, France

Non-Fiction
لمواطن أسامة  Al Mowaten Osama (Citizen Osama), Ahmed Hassouna, France and Palestine (documentary)
Be Brave, Francesco Carrozzini, Italy (1st 100% AI documentary)
Biografía de Jorge Luis Borges (The Life of Jose Luis Borges), Mariano Llinás, Argentina (documentary)
Boatbuilders, Luke Lorentzen, USA (documentary)
Burgundy, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, France (documentary)
Everest: The Other Side, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, USA, China and Nepal (documentary)
From Inside Out - The Architecture of Peter Zumthor, Wim Wengers, Germany and Switzerland (documentary)
Holy Wood Dust, Victor Kossakovsky, Italy, Spain and Germany (documentary)
Imperium, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany, Italy, France, and Lithuania (documentary)
Listy (Letters from the Silenced Country), Andrei Kutsila, Poland, Germany and Lithuania (documentary)
Musk, Alex Gibney, USA (documentary)
My Undesirable Friends: Part II - Exile, Julia Loktev, USA (documentary)
Queer Edward II, Theo Rollason, UK (documentary)
襲名 Shūmei (Shumei - The Living Legacy of Kabuki), Takashi Miike, Japan (documentary)
The Road to Jericho, Amos Gitai, France, UK and Israel (documentary)
Union Town, Barbara Kopple, USA (documentary)
微塵 Weichen (Dust), Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan and Spain (documentary)
What Love Builds, Russell Crowe, Australia  (documentary)

Film on Films
中场休息 Intermission, Yonfan, Hong Kong (documentary)
Joie de vivre, Luca Guadagnino, Italy (documentary)
Juso per Ferie, Karin di Porto, Italy (documentary)
Nino - Un film su Nino Rota (Nino - A Film About Nino Rota), Walter Fasano, Italy (documentary)
The Pervert's Guide to Utopias, Sophie Fiennes, Ireland, UK, Slovenia, Netherlands, and Norway (documentary)
Twist and Shoot Mister Suzuki, Yves Montmayeur, France (documentary)

TV Series
Peccato, Valerio Vestoso, Italy

Short Films
Flash Impact, Maggie Gyllenhaal, USA 17'
Hayalon (Wild Asparagus), Avi Mograbi, Portugal and France 24' (documentary)
They're Here, Laura Poitras and Rachel Mueller, USA 25' (documentary)

Special Screening
Dai Nostri Inviati. La Rai racconta la mostra del cinema di Venezia 2001-2012, Giuseppe Giannotti, Enrico Salvatori, and Nicoletta Berardi, Italy (documentary)

Orizzonti
An International competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema, with special attention to debut films, young talents, indie features and lesser-known cinema.

Feature Films
Competition
Opening Film: La Ragazza con la Leica (The Girl with the Leica), Alina Marazzi, Italy and Germany
Cudze Rzeczy (What Belongs to Others), Grzegorz Dębowski, Poland
Do kraja dana (Until the Day Ends), Jelena Maksimović, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Montenegro
Eklipse, Manuel Wetscher, Austria and Italy
谎言生活 Huǎngyán Shēnghuó (Big Little Things), Michelle Zhou, Hong Kong and USA
I figli della scimmia (The Children of the Monkey), Tommaso Landucci, Italy
La città dei vivi (The City of the Living), Edoardo Gabbriellini, Italy
La maison du vent (House of Wind), Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu, Cameroon, France, Belgium, Benin, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar
La Moula (Moolah), Jérôme Pierrat, France
Lovers in the Blue Night, Anuparna Roy, India and USA
Μια Μέρα στη Ζωή της Τζο: Κεφάλαιο Φαίδρα Mia mera sti zoi tis tzo: kefalaio faidra (A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra), Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece, Germany, and France
مراقب Moragheb (Falling House), Mohsen Gharaei, Iran, USA and Germany
Oase (Oasis), Jannis Lenz, Germany and Austria
太陽ぬ色 The Color of the Sun, Xavier Tera, Canada, Italy and Japan
The Difficult Bride, Rugaiyat Hossain, France, Bangladesh, Portugal, Norway, and Germany
Too Much Sugar, Robert Greene, USA
Un détour par Diane (Diane in the Loop), Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, Belgium and France
Una Storia (A Common Story), Anna Foglietta, Italy
ยักษ์ไหม้ Yak Mai (The Burning Giants) Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Thailand, France, Singapore, Taiwan, and Netherlands

Orizzonti Corti
From 2,500 short films a selection of 15 with 13 shorts in competition and 2 out of competition.

Competition
Angelo Azzurro, Tommaso Acquarone, Italy 20'
Bleu Au Loin (Distant Blue), Amir Houshang Moein, France 10' (animation)
Head of a Camel, Shannon Lee, USA 14' (animation)
Los Poderes, Salim Jaller, Colombia and France 20'
Man Made Lake, Annie King, USA and China 17'
Mothmama, Jessica Di Costa, Australia 12'
Paper Plane, Saoirse Ronan, UK and Ireland 15'
Quelques instants de bonheur (A Few Moments of Hapiness), Shaden Safieddine Tazi, France and UK 18' (documentary)
Sasso, Carta, Forbici (Rock, Paper, Scissors), Virginia Mori, Italy and France 9' (animation)
Tesztpálya (Test Track), Lydia Cornett, Hungary, UK, and USA 15'
Тиша (Silence), Pavlo Shpegun, Ukraine 14'
Τροπικός του θρηνούτος γκέκο (Tropic of the Mourning Gecko), Stavros Markoulakis, Greece, France, and Netherlands 19'
Una Fortaleza (A Fortress), Alba Gaviraghi, Chile 14'

Out of Competition
Il senso della terra (The Sense of Earth), Alessandro Ingaria and Simone Massi, Italy 14' (hibrid animation)
Sounds From Home, Nathan Silver, France and USA 8' (documentary)

Orizzonti Jury
President: Valérie Donzelli, director, actress and screenwriter, France
Peter Bechker, film distributor, USA
Elizabeth Lo, director, Hong Kong and USA
David Pablos, director and screenwriter, Mexico
Barbara Ronchi, actress, Italy

Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Debut Film Jury
President: Carolina Cavalli, director and screenwriter, Italy
Akinola Davies Jr., filmmaker, UK and Nigeria
Ted Hope, producer, USA

Venezia Spotlight

A selection of up to 8 works with no restrictions on genres, characterized by innovation and creative originality in their relationship with the public they are meant for.

Opening Film: Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, Erik Shirai, Japan, USA and Denmark (documentary)
Eu Contez (I Matter), Alina Șerban, Romania, Germany, and Belgium
Földszint (Ground Floor), Gábor Reisz, Hungary and Italy
Furies, Rami Kodeih, Brazil and Lebanon
გურია Guria, Levan Koguashvili, Georgia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Turkey, Norway, and South Arabia
حوار مع البحر Hiwar ma' albahr (Conversation With The Sea), Muayad Alayan, Palestine, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar
Hombre al Agua, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mexico
Serpenti (Snakes), Roberto de Paolis Maino, Italy

Venezia Classics
The lineup for Venice Classics presents the world premiere screenings of 19 films restorations of masterpieces completed over the past year from film libraries, cultural institutions and productions around the world. The restored masterpieces by Buñuel, Cassavetes, Ciprì and Maresco, Corman, Hui, Kluge, Lubitsch, Polanski, Rossellini, Scola, Wajda and others.
Director Daniele Vicari will chair the Jury of Film Students which – for the thirteenth year – will award the Venice Classics prizes for the respective competitions for Best Restored Film. The Jury chaired will be composed of 24 students, each of them recommended by professors of film studies from various Italian universities, DAMS and from Ca' Foscari University in Venice.
To check the list of restored films go to official site here.

Venezia Immersive
10th edition will present 68 projects from 26 countries, 30 projects in Competition and 35 projects Out of Competition plus 3 projects developed during the Biennale College-Cinema Immersive. More activities will take place on the Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vechio) like the Market, VPB Focuses and more. To read about the projects in Venezia Immersive go official site here and to read about Venice Immersive Market go Venice Production Bridge official site here.

Book Adaptation Rights Market
11th edition organized as part of the Venice Production Bridge with 30 international publishing houses and literary agencies which enable them to propose their entire catalogue for film adaptation rather than focusing on a single book. To check the list of 30 go official site here.

Venice Gap-Financing Market
From over 370 project applications a selection of 66 projects from around the world in the final stanges of developing and funding will be presented. In 2026 the VPB Focusess will be Greece and Switzerland. The selection is divided as follows:
38 feature-length Fiction and Documentary projects (including 9 VPB Focus projects)
14 Immersive projects (including 3 VPB Focus projects)
11 Biennale College Cinema - Immersive projects
3 Biennale College Cinema projects
To check the list of projects go official site here.

Final Cut in Venice
Final Cut in Venice is the industry program that has been providing since 2013 concrete support in the completion of films from all African countries and from six countries of the Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen. The program offers the opportunity to present films still in production phase to international film professionals, in order to facilitate post-production and film market access. The seletion has 6 work-in-progress competing for several awards. To check the selection go official site here.

Biennale College Cinema
An advanced training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget works, open to teams of directors and producers from around the world. To check the four films developed this edition go official site here.

The Press Conference Video