VENICE IS CALLING
As cinema prepares to return to the Lido, Cutler looks ahead to the films, faces and old world glamour of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
1932: THE FIRST VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
For eleven days in September, Venice becomes the centre of the cinematic world. Actors arrive by boat. Photographers gather along the Lido. Evening clothes appear while much of Europe is still clinging to the final days of summer, and inside darkened screening rooms the films that will dominate conversations for the months ahead are shown for the first time.
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival takes place from 2 to 12 September 2026, once again under the direction of Alberto Barbera. Twenty one films will compete for the Golden Lion, alongside the festival's wider programme of new filmmakers, restorations, documentaries and experimental work.
Venice has always occupied a peculiar position in the film calendar. It is a serious film festival wrapped in an extraordinarily glamorous setting. Cannes has the Croisette, but Venice has arrivals by water taxi, the faded grandeur of the Lido and the irresistible possibility that somebody might step from a boat in a dinner jacket.
For cinema, there are few better stages.
THE FILMS WE'RE WATCHING
This year's competition brings together established auteurs and filmmakers making their first appearance in Venice competition.
Danny Boyle arrives with Ink, starring Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy. The film turns to the world of British newspapers and Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun, giving Boyle particularly rich territory in which to explore power, ambition and the machinery of the press.
Martin McDonagh returns with Wild Horse Nine, while Hirokazu Kore-eda brings his latest work to the competition. Florian Zeller's Bunker pairs Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, an irresistible prospect before a frame has even been seen.
Werner Herzog is also part of this year's programme with Bucking Fastard, starring sisters Kate and Rooney Mara, while Robert Pattinson appears in A24 thriller Primetime.
There will, inevitably, be surprises. That is partly the pleasure of a festival. The film everybody arrives discussing is not necessarily the film everybody is discussing when they leave.
THE DOCUMENTARY HAS SOMETHING TO SAY
The festival's programme also suggests that some of Venice's most discussed films may come from documentary rather than fiction.
The competition was completed on 24 August with the addition of NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the filmmakers behind the Academy Award winning No Other Land. Produced by The Guardian, with Jonathan Glazer among its executive producers, the film examines the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and will premiere on the Lido on 10 September.
Elsewhere the programme turns its attention towards some of the most powerful and scrutinised figures in contemporary culture. Alex Gibney's Musk examines Elon Musk, while music and celebrity culture also find their way onto the programme through documentary work.
Venice may provide one of cinema's most glamorous settings, but the films themselves are rarely obliged to behave accordingly.
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL TAKES THE CHAIR
Presiding over the Venezia 83 jury this year is Maggie Gyllenhaal.
It feels like a particularly appropriate choice. Gyllenhaal has spent much of her career moving between acting and increasingly ambitious work behind the camera. Her directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, won Best Screenplay at Venice in 2021, and her relationship with the festival has continued since.
Now she returns to lead the jury responsible for awarding the Golden Lion, alongside Venice's other major competition prizes.
The appointment also says something about the kind of cinema Venice wishes to champion. Gyllenhaal has spoken of approaching the task through curiosity rather than judgement, an appealing philosophy for a festival at its best when discovery remains part of the experience.
ARRIVING IN STYLE
And then, of course, there are the clothes.
Venice has produced some of the great festival images because its geography makes simply arriving feel cinematic. There is something wonderfully excessive about stepping from a polished wooden boat dressed for a premiere.
The Lido also encourages a particular kind of festival wardrobe. Linen and sunglasses during the day give way to evening dress after dark. Unlike the hyper managed machinery of many modern red carpets, Venice can still occasionally produce the impression that a movie star has simply appeared.
This year's programme should provide no shortage of faces. Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Robert Pattinson, Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy are among the actors attached to films in the programme, with many filmmakers and casts traditionally attending their official screenings.
Cutler will, naturally, be watching the tailoring.
BEFORE THE FIRST PREMIERE
The festival technically begins on 2 September, but Venice is beginning a little earlier this year.
On 1 September, the Lido will host a pre opening screening of a restored 4K version of Tinto Brass's 1967 pop thriller Deadly Sweet, starring Jean Louis Trintignant and Ewa Aulin.
There is something rather wonderful about beginning one of the world's most important celebrations of new cinema by looking backwards.
It is also a reminder of what makes Venice more interesting than the procession of premieres and photographs sometimes suggests. Alongside the new films competing for attention are restorations, rediscoveries and the continuing argument that cinema's history deserves to be seen properly rather than reduced to a thumbnail on a streaming service.
AND SO TO THE LIDO
By the time the first boats begin arriving, predictions will already have been made. There will be supposed frontrunners, disappointments, standing ovations of questionable significance and at least one film nobody expected to become the story of the festival.
Ignore most of it.
For eleven days, filmmakers from around the world will show audiences something they have spent years making. Some of those films will disappear quietly. Others will travel from Venice through Toronto, London and the awards season that follows. A handful may eventually become part of cinema's history.
That possibility is what keeps the festival interesting.
The water taxis and evening clothes certainly help.
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs from 2 to 12 September 2026 on the Lido di Venezia.