The 83rd Venice International Film Festival returns to the Lido di Venezia in September 2026. Organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera, Biennale Cinema 2026 brings public screenings, red-carpet premieres and industry events back to the Palazzo del Cinema.
For visitors, the festival is not solely an industry affair. Public tickets are usually available for selected screenings, although the Lido fills up quickly and finding a reasonably priced room in Venice can be a bit of a mission.
- Venice Film Festival 2026 dates and key events
- Opening and closing films at Biennale Cinema 2026
- Venice Film Festival 2026 competition lineup
- And the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to...
- Venice Film Festival tickets and accreditation
- Staying in Venice during the film festival
- Why the Venice Film Festival matters
Venice Film Festival 2026 dates and key events
The 2026 edition opens on Wednesday 2 September and ends on Saturday 12 September, when the awards ceremony takes place before the closing-night screening.
Festival venues are concentrated around the Palazzo del Cinema and neighbouring cinemas on the Lido, the narrow barrier island separating the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic.
Opening and closing films at Biennale Cinema 2026
Danny Boyle’s Ink opens the festival with a world premiere in the Sala Grande. The film stars Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, and appears in the main Venezia 83 competition for the Golden Lion.
Giovanni Veronesi’s Dio ride, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Silvio Orlando, and Alma Noce, closes the festival after the awards ceremony on 12 September. Its placement outside the competition means the final night has the usual mix of ceremony, film-world spectacle and rather hectic vaporetto queues once the lights come up.
Venice Film Festival 2026 competition lineup
The Venezia 83 competition brings together 20 films competing for the Golden Lion, the festival’s top prize. The selection includes major international directors, Italian filmmakers and several familiar names in front of the camera.
Selected Venezia 83 films and casts
- Company — Casey Affleck, with Nick Nolte, Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy
- Kami nour (A Bit of Light) — Ali Asgari, with Misagh Zareh and Sadaf Asgari
- Ritorno a Buenos Aires — Marco Bechis, with Adriano Giannini and Ana Celentano
- Ink — Danny Boyle, with Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy
- Un bon petit soldat — Stéphane Brizé, with Alba Rohrwacher and Vincent Lindon
- Il fuoco che ti porti dentro — Edoardo De Angelis, with Vanessa Scalera and Lino Musella
- Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown) — May el-Toukhy, with Mathilde Arcel and Carsten Bjørnlund
- Bucking Fastard — Werner Herzog, with Kate Mara, Rooney Mara, Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson
- 15/18 (A Place To Heal) — Cédric Kahn, with Zoé Monpart and Malou Khebizi
- Dau — Ilya Khrzhanovsky, with Teodor Currentzis and Radmila Shchogolieva
- Look Back — Hirokazu Koreeda, with Natsuki Deguchi, Aju Makita and Masaki Suda
- Ga-neung-han sa-rang (Possible Love) — Lee Chang-dong, with Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu and Zo In-sung
- Wild Horse Nine — Martin McDonagh, with John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi and Tom Waits
- Succederà questa notte — Nanni Moretti, with Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca and Nanni Moretti
- Primetime — Lance Oppenheim, with Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers
- The Echo Chamber — Andrea Pallaoro, with Luca Marinelli, Alicia Vikander and Susan Sarandon
- Un peu avant minuit — Nicolas Pariser, with Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni and Golshifteh Farahani
- L’estranea — Paolo Strippoli, with Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
- Nelson san, anata ha hito wo koroshimashitaka? (Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?) — Shinya Tsukamoto, with Rodney Hicks, Geoffrey Rush and Lily Franky
- Bunker — Florian Zeller, with Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Stephen Graham and Paul Dano
The selection has a particularly strong Italian presence, with films by Marco Bechis, Edoardo De Angelis, Nanni Moretti, Andrea Pallaoro and Paolo Strippoli.
It also brings a hefty dose of star power to the Lido, including Robert Pattinson, Alicia Vikander, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush and the Mara sisters.
And the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to...
American actor, director and producer George Clooney will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The decision was made by the Board of Directors of La Biennale, upon recommendation of the Artistic Director of the Festival, Alberto Barbera. Clooney’s career spans acting, directing and producing, with credits including Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck and Jay Kelly.
American actor Ellen Burstyn also receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2026 festival. Her work stretches across landmark films including The Exorcist, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and Interstellar, and the award recognises a career that has moved easily between independent cinema, Hollywood and theatre.
Venice Film Festival tickets and accreditation
Tickets and subscriptions for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival are available through the official La Biennale di Venezia ticketing platform, with subscriptions on sale from 23 July 2026. They cover screenings at particular cinemas and time slots, rather than giving unrestricted access across the full festival programme.
The Sala Grande is the headline venue at the Palazzo del Cinema, and its evening subscriptions are the priciest: a 7 pm gallery subscription costs €1,600, while a 9.45 pm subscription costs €300 full price or €250 at the concession rate. Sala Grande subscriptions are available until 30 June 2026, so they need sorting early.
Other festival cinemas are far more manageable: subscriptions at Sala Corinto, Sala Volpi and Sala Astra start at €50, while Sala Darsena and Sala Giardino start at €100.
A few useful points to keep in mind:
- Individual tickets are usually the simplest route for visitors planning one or two screenings, while subscriptions make more sense for a regular cinema and time slot
- Concession prices apply to selected subscriptions, although eligibility and conditions should be checked when booking
- Major premieres in the Sala Grande are the toughest to secure and carry the steepest price tags
- Arriving early still matters, even with a ticket, as queues and security checks are part of the festival routine
- Press, industry and cinema-professional accreditation is separate from public tickets and subscriptions, with its own application process
Staying in Venice during the film festival
The Lido di Venezia is the easiest place to stay for early screenings, late-night events and avoiding the final water-bus rush. It is also one of the first areas to sell out during festival dates, especially around the Palazzo del Cinema. Accommodation on the main island of Venice gives visitors more choice for restaurants and evenings away from the festival, but requires a vaporetto journey each way.
Mestre is often the more budget-conscious base, with regular trains and buses connecting it to Venice, though it is less convenient after late screenings. The last leg to the Lido still relies on the vaporetto, Venice’s public water bus, so allowing extra time is sensible.
Why the Venice Film Festival matters
Founded in 1932, the Venice Film Festival is widely regarded as the world’s oldest film festival. Its place at the beginning of the autumn cinema calendar makes it an important launchpad for films heading into awards season, but its programme also gives space to world cinema, first features, documentaries and experimental work.
For people living in Venice, the festival creates a noticeable change of pace on the Lido: more boats, cameras, temporary barriers and evening crowds, but also rare access to international cinema without leaving the lagoon.
For visitors, it works best with a little planning and realistic expectations around accommodation costs and transport. The red carpet is only one small part of it; the real pleasure is catching a film in a room full of people who have turned up for the cinema itself.
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