Venice Film Festival 2026 Kicks Off September 2 — Danny Boyle's Ink Opens, McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine and a 4-Hour Elon Musk Doc Compete

Awards season officially starts this week. The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs September 2-12, and the full lineup is a stacked, international-heavy race that's already being called one of the most unpredictable in years. If you live for Oscar-bait watching, this is where the next six months of discourse begins.

The Opening Night and the Competition

The festival opens with Danny Boyle's Ink, a portrait of the early days of Rupert Murdoch's media empire — exactly the kind of big, confident, awards-season swing Boyle does best, and a canny choice for an opening night that wants headlines. The competition lineup is a who's who of world cinema: Martin McDonagh brings his dark CIA comedy Wild Horse Nine, while festival regulars Casey Affleck, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Lee Chang-dong all have contenders in the main race. Elsewhere on the program, Werner Herzog and Alex Gibney are in the mix, and there's an immersive project about the L.A. fires that's expected to be one of the most talked-about installations on the Lido.

The documentary section is where things get truly wild: a four-hour Elon Musk documentary is guaranteed to dominate festival headlines no matter what else premieres. And for the drama lovers, hotly anticipated films featuring Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz, and Javier Bardem round out a slate that spans blockbuster-adjacent star vehicles and heady arthouse experiments.

Honors and the Jury

This year's jury is led by Maggie Gyllenhaal — whose own Venice debut, The Lost Daughter, won the best screenplay prize here in 2021 — alongside filmmakers like Johnnie To and Kaouther Ben Hania. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to two legends: George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn. Clooney showing up in Venice is always a paparazzi event; Burstyn's career-spanning honor is long overdue. One running conversation this year: whether the festival's celebrated 50-50 gender parity drive is losing steam, a question the selections this edition will be scrutinized against.

Why Hollywood Is Watching

Venice has become the launchpad of choice for serious awards campaigns — it's where Joker, Nomadland, and Poor Things all started their runs. This year's lineup is lighter on studio blockbusters, which means the conversation will be driven by auteurs and bold swings. For millennial film fans, the next two weeks are a preview of everything you'll be arguing about all awards season. Grab your popcorn — Venice is open.