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Venice Film Festival · 2026

Venice Film Festival 2026

Competition

Programme

20 films · 4 reviews

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Back To Buenos Aires (Ritorno A Buenos Aires)

An Italian doctor, decides to return to Buenos Aires to testify at the trial of the former military officers from the Argentine dictatorship who had abducted him 33 years earlier, forcing him to confront survivor's guilt.

(Country: Italy, Brazil; Year: 2026; Director: Marco Bechis; Writer: Marco Bechis; Stars: Adriano Giannini, Ana Celentano, Vero Geréz, Olivia Nuss, Adrián Fondari, Marcelo Chaparro, Paula Cohen)

World premiere

A Bit Before Midnight (Un Peu Avant Minuit)

As he is about to separate from his partner, with whom he lives in Eastern France, 49-year-old Léo learns of the death of his biological father whom he never knew. Before traveling to Italy to deal with the inheritance, he spends a few days in Paris to take stock of his life.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Nicolas Pariser; Writer: Nicolas Pariser; Stars: Melvil Poupaud, Léonie Simaga, Chiara Mastroianni, Golshifteh Farahani, Anaïs Demoustier, Clara Pacini, Micha Lescot)

World premiere

A Bit Of Light (Kami Nour)

After being arrested and having his medical practice shut down, an Iranian doctor loses faith in the future and resolves to end his life - but one final day among his family begins to unsettle his decision.

(Country: Iran, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Turkey; Year: 2026; Director: Ali Asgari; Writer: Ali Asgari, Shadmehr Rastin; Stars: Misagh Zare, Sadaf Asgari, Forouzan Jamshidnejad, Ramtin Daghigh, Mina Rahimzadeh)

World premiere

Bucking Fastard

Review preview for Bucking Fastard

For all the strangeness of the premise there’s not a lot of meat on the bones of this story.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The adventures of a pair of twins whose speech is synchronised and lives co-dependent.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: Kate Mara, Rooney Mara, Hugh O'Conor, Simon Delaney, Terry McMahon, Shane Connellan, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson)

Full review

World premiere

Bunker

When an architect accepts a morally ambiguous project - building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire - his wife begins to question their marriage after 17 years together.

(Country: France, Spain; Year: 2026; Director: Florian Zeller; Writer: Florian Zeller; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Paul Dano, Stephen Graham, Eileen Atkins, Mark Gatiss, Nimmi Harasgama, Jamie Bisping, Christos Lawton, Karen Ascoe, Shelley Williams, Abe Jarman, Greta Bellamacina)

World premiere

Company

A mysterious traveler tells a story that spans generations, drawing together the lives of three wounded souls struggling to choose between vengeance and forgiveness.

(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2026; Director: Casey Affleck; Writer: Casey Affleck, Ron Hansen; Stars: Nick Nolte, Ben Mendelsohn, Adelaide Clemens, Scoot McNairy, Emily Lind, Caylee Cowan, Atticus Affleck, Indiana Affleck)

World premiere

Dau

The latest instalment of the director's multidisciplinary project.

(Country: Germany, France, Sweden; Year: 2026; Director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky; Stars: Teodor Currentzis, Radmila Shchogolieva, Anatoly Vasiliev)

World premiere

The Echo Chamber

Drama focused on a co-dependent couple who cannot let go or break free.

(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2026; Director: Andrea Pallaoro; Writer: Ludovica Rampoldi, Ilaria Bernardini; Stars: Luca Marinelli, Alicia Vikander, Susan Sarandon)

World premiere

A Good Little Soldier

A successful business executive tasked with promoting employee wellbeing while still meeting performance goals finds herself pushed to breaking point.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Stéphane Brizé; Writer: Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo, Olivier Gorce; Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Vincent Lindon, Sharif Andoura, David Talbot)

World premiere

Il Fuoco Che Ti Porti Dentro

A man who has built a succcessful career far away from his mother finds himself on a collision course with her when she comes to visit for Christmas.

(Year: 2026; Director: Edoardo De Angelis; Writer: Francesco Piccolo, Ilaria Macchia, Edoardo De Angelis; Stars: Vanessa Scalera, Lino Musella, Elena Radonicich, Ivana Lotito, Tommaso Ragno)

World premiere

Ink

Review preview for Ink

Danny Boyle brings his customary energy to James Graham’s adaptation of his own stage play, which flies along quicker than paper through a printing press.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Drama charting Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun newspaper and its upturning of the landscape under editor Larry Lamb in 1969.

(Country: 2026; Year: 2026; Director: Danny Boyle; Writer: James Graham; Stars: Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy)

Full review

World premiere. Opening night film

It Will Happen Tonight (Succederà Questa Notte)

Loosely based on the short story collection Hungry Heart by Lev Raev.

(Country: Italy, Spain, France; Year: 2026; Director: Nanni Moretti; Writer: Nanni Moretti, Valia Santella, Federica Pontremoli; Stars: Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca, Angela Finocchiaro, Elena Lietti, Antonio De Matteo, Andrea Lattanzi, Hippolyte Girardot, Pietro Ragusa, Paolo Sassanelli, Nanni Moretti, Melina Åkerman Kvie, Edoardo Purgatori, Tania de la Cruz, Laura Nardi, David L. Bengoetxea)

World premiere

Look Back

Fujino, a gifted and determined teenager, is confident in her talent as an aspiring manga artist while the reclusive Kyomoto rarely leaves her room, devoting herself entirely to drawing. Brought together by their shared passion, the two small-town girls pursue their dream of becoming manga artists.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Natsuki Deguchi, Aju Makita, Fuuri Nanase, Rokka Okada, Masaki Suda, Kankuro Kudo, Kayo Noro, Ryo Ikeda, Miyu Sasaki, Maho Yamada)

World premiere

Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? (Nelson San, Anata Ha Hito Wo Koroshimashitaka?)

The original story is a non-fiction account by Allen Nelson, an African American veteran of the Vietnam War, detailing his wartime experiences and the struggles he faced upon returning home.

(Country: Japan, US, Thailand; Year: 2026; Director: Shinya Tsukamoto; Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto; Stars: Rodney Hicks, Geoffrey Rush, Tatyana Ali, Mark Merphy)

World premiere

A Place To Heal (15/18)

Lucia, 17, is taken to a child and adolescent psychiatric unit, where she is reunited with old friends Amidst treatment, attentive care, and the tensions of an overwhelmed ward, the group’s fragile balance wavers with the arrival of the mysterious Enzo.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Cédric Kahn; Writer: Cédric Kahn; Stars: Zoé Monpart, Malou Khebizi, Kenji Peyran, Raphaël Besson, Patience Munchenbach, Ahleme Sahraoui, Jade Philip, Laeti Vabre, Daoud Gary, Sami Assouane, Ambre Belaidi, Gabriel Pottier, Sophie Guillemin, Maria Cavalier-Bazan, Cédric Kahn)

World premiere

Possible Love (Ga-neung-han sa-rang)

A story of two married couples - a laid-off worker and his spouse, and a documentary filmmaker and her spouse - crossing paths to film a documentary and facing their different lives and hidden desires.

(Country: South Korea, US; Year: 2026; Director: Lee Chang-dong; Writer: Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi; Stars: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung, Cho Yeo-jeong, Jo Yu-ri)

World premiere

Primetime

In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Lance Oppenheim; Writer: Ajon Singh; Stars: Robert Pattinson, Bokeem Woodbine, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Eric Rahill, Matthew Maher, Phoebe Bridgers, Sean Bridgers, Jessica Blackmore, Sue-Lynn Ansari, Jonathan Lipnicki, Bob Ari, Mike Harkins, Dan Matteucci, Ja'Quan Monroe-Henderson)

World premiere

The Spiral (L'estrania)

Review preview for The Spiral

Up until the end laced with cheap pseudo-biblical references, this horror-drama serves as a fun and thrilling ride.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3 out of 5
A woman unexpectedly shows up at her daughter’s home to reveal the truth about their family.

(Country: Belgium, France, Italy; Year: 2026; Director: Paolo Strippoli; Writer: Paolo Strippoli, Salvatore de Chirico; Stars: Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Matilda De Angelis, Adriano Giannini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi)

Full review

World premiere

Wild Horse Nine

Review preview for Wild Horse Nine

Malkovich and Rockwell are magnetic.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee are dispatched from Santiago to Rapa Nui.

(Country: UK, US, Chile; Year: 2026; Director: Martin McDonagh; Writer: Martin McDonagh; Stars: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Tom Waits, Mariana di Girolamo, Paola Giannini, Ailín Salas, Samuel Wayt)

Full review

World premiere

Woman Unknown (Kvinde Ukendt)

A housemaid is about to marry a wealthy widower but a secret from her past threatens to catch up with her.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2026; Director: May el-Toukhy; Writer: May el-Toukhy, Maren Louise Käehne; Stars: Mathilde Arcel Fock, Carsten Bjørnlund, Thorbjørn Hedegaard, Marina Bouras, Mia Plantin, Sofia Nolsøe Mikkelsen)

World premiere