Venice 83 opens with Danny Boyle, five Italian films in competition

The 83rd International Film Festival, organized by the Venice Biennale and directed by Alberto Barbera, will be held on the Lido from September 2 to 12, 2026. The official selection was announced on July 25, 2026, and the details are published on the Venice Biennale website.

The two ends of the program

The opening is entrusted to “Ink” by Danny Boyle, with Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy. The closing, out of competition, goes to “Dio ride” by Giovanni Veronesi: the symmetry between an internationally high-profile title at the opening and an Italian comedy at the close is the structure the festival has adopted for years, and it serves to balance the global showcase with the home audience.

The Italian competition within the competition

Five Italian films are competing for the Golden Lion: “Ritorno a Buenos Aires” by Marco Bechis, “Il fuoco che ti porti dentro” by Edoardo De Angelis, “The Echo Chamber” by Andrea Pallaoro, “L’estranea” by Paolo Strippoli and “Succederà questa notte” by Nanni Moretti. The reconstruction is by Sky TG24, which reports the Biennale’s press releases.

Moretti’s return has a precise time coordinate: he re-enters the competition forty-five years after the Special Jury Prize he received with “Sogni d’oro”. Five national titles in an international competition remain a high number, and every year they reopen the discussion on the relationship between domestic showcase and competitive selection. The assessment will depend on the list of award winners, not on the composition of the lineup.

Jury and lifetime achievement awards

The international jury of the competition is presided over by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The two Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement go to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn: two different generations of American cinema, with the second choice marking a decades-long acting career.

The parallel sections and the geography

Among the anticipated titles are a documentary on the Oasis reunion and “Joie de vivre” by Luca Guadagnino, dedicated to Bernardo Bertolucci; in the new Venice Spotlight section appears “Hombre al agua” by Gael García Bernal, as noted in the reconstruction of the press conference published by Venezia da Vivere.

The introduction of a new section is the most interesting structural element of this edition. The major European festivals are multiplying parallel sections to absorb a production that the main competition cannot contain, and to intercept films that digital distribution platforms bring to the public without passing through theaters. The presence of a Mexican director and actor in that section, with a title in Spanish, indicates the geographical perimeter the festival is seeking beyond the European-American axis.

What will be known, and when

Of the films in competition, at the moment the titles, directors and part of the casts are known: not the verdicts, which will come with the screenings. The calendar of the eleven days on the Lido remains the only fixed element, along with the two lifetime achievement awards already assigned.

The verification of the weight of the Italian component will come with the list of award winners: the Golden Lion will be awarded by the jury presided over by Gyllenhaal among the competing titles, five of which are Italian productions. The available sources indicate the closing date of the Festival, September 12, but not the date or format of the awards ceremony: on this point the program remains to be clarified.