Venice 83 opens on September 1 with the restoration of Tinto Brass's "Col cuore in gola"

Before the official opening of the Mostra there is an evening that usually goes unnoticed and which this year has a specific content. On Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at 9 p.m., the Sala Darsena at the Lido hosts the pre-opening of the 83rd International Film Festival, dedicated to Tinto Brass with the screening of “Col cuore in gola,” a 1967 thriller starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Ewa Aulin.

A restoration and who pays for it

The world premiere presents the 4K digital restored version produced by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale with the support of Netflix. The film is part of the Venezia Classici section.

The arrangement deserves more attention than the screening itself. The restoration of Italian cinematic heritage falls under the competence of a public institution, the Cineteca Nazionale; the funding, in this case, comes from a private distribution platform. This is now a recurring model in film restoration, and it has a material consequence: whoever bears the cost of the recovery generally acquires a position in the work’s subsequent circulation. The available information does not specify the terms of the agreement between the Centro Sperimentale and the platform, nor whether distribution rights are included.

The framework of the Mostra

The 83rd Mostra takes place at the Lido from September 2 to 12, 2026, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia. The opening film, on September 2, is “Ink” by Danny Boyle, an adaptation of the play by James Graham with Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy. The competition includes twenty-one feature films in world premiere, including titles by Nanni Moretti, Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Lee Chang-dong. The international competition jury is chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The closing, on September 12, is entrusted to the out-of-competition screening of “Dio ride” by Giovanni Veronesi, with Pierfrancesco Favino and Silvio Orlando. The two Golden Lions for lifetime achievement go to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn, as this newspaper reported on August 24. The opening and closing evenings are hosted by Greta Scarano and Nicolas Maupas.

The Biennale opened a new batch of tickets online starting at 3 p.m. on August 24, 2026.

Why the pre-opening is not a detail

Placing a restoration in the evening preceding the official opening is a programming choice: it shifts the attention of the first days onto a section, Venezia Classici, which usually remains on the margins of press coverage. The presence in the lineup of a 1967 title alongside twenty-one world premieres describes two distinct functions of a festival: selecting the new and putting the old back into circulation in a technically usable form.

The list of names in competition points to a selection with a significant Asian component — Kore-eda and Lee Chang-dong — alongside European authors. The available information does not include the full list of the twenty-one titles, nor the complete composition of the jury beyond its presidency.

What we don’t know

It is not known what state the source materials for the restoration were in, nor the duration of the work on the 1967 film. The terms of the collaboration between the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and Netflix are not made public. It is not indicated whether the restored version will have a theatrical distribution following the Venice screening.

Three dates have been set: the pre-opening on September 1 at the Sala Darsena, the opening on September 2 with “Ink,” and the closing on September 12 with the awarding of the competition prizes.

Sources: La Biennale di Venezia, Veraclasse, iCrewPlay Cinema, Lifestyle Made in Italy, Il Giornale dell’Arte.