Venice Film Festival Lineup Comes Into Focus

BusinessMediaVenice Film Festival Lineup Comes Into FocusByDavid Bloom,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I’m an LA-based columnist & consultant focused on tech & entertainmentFollow AuthorAug 18, 2026, 07:47pm EDT(Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)Getty ImagesFinally, after months of anticipation and speculation, the sprawling lineup of feature films, documentaries, shorts and immersive experiences at this year’s Venice International Film Festival has come into focus. Yes, the world’s oldest film festival, which runs from Sept. 2 to Sept. 12 with media/industry previews Sept. 1, again debuts notable projects from prominent filmmakers from across the world, some of them likely awards-season contenders. Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh, Werner Herzog, Ali Asgar, and Florian Zeller are among the notable directors with projects in competition. Of the 20 films in competition, 12 are debuting solely in Venice, while another eight will also appear at the Toronto International Festival, which runs Sept. 5 to Sept. 15. Along with the smaller and more remote Telluride (Colorado) festival, the three Labor Day-adjacent fests semi-officially kick off the awards season while spotlighting other notable pictures that will get critical and cinephile attention the next several months. Venice festival artistic director Alberto Barbera told Screen Daily one of this year’s highlights is a film directed by and starring beloved Italian comedian Nanni Moretti (It Will Happen Tonight/Succedera Questa Notte). The highly personal “love melodrama” is Moretti’s first Venice appearance in 37 years. Wild Horse Nine, written and directed by Oscar winner Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; The Banshees of Inisherin) promises another pitch-black comedic take, this time set in the days before the 1973 CIA-assisted coup that ousted Chilean leader Salvador Allende. MORE FOR YOUSam Rockwell and John Malkovich play...