Murdoch and Musk at the Venice film festival | Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival promises to take part in many print and digital events this year, with a new film by the director of Trainspotting Danny Boyle about Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the Sun and a new documentary by Elon Musk included in the list of films of the 83rd edition of the festival.

In Boyle’s Ink, which will open a festival at the Lido on September 2, Australian actor Guy Pearce plays the journalist Murdoch, whose purchase of The Sun in 1969 captivated the media landscape and changed the lives of people in Britain. The script was written by Olivier award-winning playwright and screenwriter James Graham (Dear England, Brexit: The Uncivil War).

Former Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney portrays the world’s richest man, control freak and owner of the social network X in his four-hour documentary about Musk, which will be shown in Venice.

In recent years, Venice has sought to present itself as the flashier and more glamorous of Europe’s three major festivals compared to the more difficult Cannes and more politically charged Berlin.

This year’s line-up, presented by veteran artistic director Alberto Barbera this week, will still attract big stars to the Venice waterfront.

The British-Irish director Martin McDonagh will present his new film Wild Horse Nine, in which John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell are two CIA agents who cannot be found in Chile on the eve of the coup led by Augusto Pinochet. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey also star in the anticipated return of the director of In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin.

Robert Pattinson will grace the Lido as the lead in A24’s Primetime, a psychological thriller inspired by US TV show To Catch a Predator, directed by Lance Oppenheim.

Real couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem star in the French playwright-director Florian Zeller’s Bunker, where the publisher-construction family moved to London and was invited by the millionaire to repair a house that can withstand a nuclear bomb.

Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara star in Bucking Fastard, the first dramatic film in seven years by German cult director Werner Herzog. The film was billed as a biopic of Freda and Greta Chaplin, twins from York who talked and moved together and became known after a brush with the law. It seems that since then it deviated from the path that was well known from the creator of Aguirre, The Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, which revolved around the task of digging trenches through the mountains “in search of an imaginary place”.

Barbera said that Liam and Noel Gallagher have confirmed their presence at the festival, at the premiere of the Oasis reunion documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger, while Russell Crowe is expected to attend the show of What Love Builds, a long documentary of his band Indoor Garden Party.

But there’s some big money at the Lido this year. Russian-born filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky will present his latest film Dar projectcompared to the Stalinist Truman Show and inspired by the Soviet research organization that helped create the first atomic bomb.

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa will bring his documentary Imperium, about a film commissioned by the Italian Communist Party to celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union but ultimately reveal its contradictions.

Laura Poitras’ latest documentary, They Are Here, produced by Rachel Mueller, goes into ICE in Minneapolis and the murder of Renée Good, among other things that have not been reported before.

Horror movies like Caro Diario and The Son’s Room have made it Nani Moretti one of Italy’s most respected filmmakers, but for the past two decades he prefers to show his new works in Cannes rather than Venice. Screening in competition this year, Succederà Questa Notte (It Will Happen Tonight) will be Moretti’s first film in Venice since 1989.

After Tunisian director Kaouter Ben Hania made a splash at last year’s festival with The Voice of Hind Rajab, female directors have dropped significantly in this year’s competition. With six female directors competing for the Golden Lion in 2025, Danish-Egyptian director May El-Toukhy’s drama Woman Unknown is the only film directed by a woman among the 20 titles in the main competition.

Venice 2026 official selection: complete list

Ink Danny Boyle

Company Casey Affleck

A little light Ali Asgari

Return to Buenos Aires Marco Bechis

Good Little Soldier Stéphane Brizé

The Fire That Brings You Inside Edoardo de Angelis

Unknown Woman Mrs. el-Touky

Shooting Fastard Werner Herzog

Healing Center Cédric Kahn

Dau Ilya Khrzhanovsky

Look Back Hirokazu Kore-eda

Possible love Lee Chang-dong

Wild Horse Nine Martin McDonagh

It will happen tonight Nani Moretti

The first time Lance Oppenheim

The Echo Chamber Andrea Pallaoro

A Little After Midnight Nicolas Pariser

A stranger Paolo Strippoli

Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? Shinya Tsukamoto

Bunker Florian Zeller

Venice Spotlight

Sumo: The Spirit Weighs Nothing Erik Shirai (opening film)

Conversation with the Sea Muayad Alayan

Man Overboard Gael Garcia Bernal

Snake Roberto de Paolis Maino

Anger Rami Code

Guria Levan Koguashvili

Down Under Gábor Reisz

I’m Important Alina Serban

Competitive horizons

A girl with a Leica Alina Marazzi (opening film)

Burning Giants Phuttiphong Aroonpheng

Content About Others Grzegorz Dębowski

Story Anna Foglietta

City of the Living Edoardo Gabrielli

The Fallen House Mohsen Gharaei

Too much sugar Robert Greene

The Troubled Bride Rubaiyat Hossain

House of Wind Auguste Bernard, Kouemo Yanghu

Children of the Monkeys Tommaso Landucci

A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra Jacqueline Lentzou

Oasis Jannis Lenz

Until the Day Ends Jelena Maksimović

La Moula Jérôme Pierrat

Lovers in the Blue Night Anuparna Roy

Un Separation from Diane Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni

Color of the Sun Xavier Tera

Venice Open – Films on film

Juso Per Holiday Karen in Porto

Nino – A movie about Nino Walter Fasano

A Twisted Book of Utopias Sophie Fiennes

The Joy of Life Luca Guadagnino

Collect and Shoot Mr. Suzuki Yves Montmayeur

Time to rest Yonfan

Venice Open – Nonfiction

Be Brave Francesco Carrozzini

What Love They build Russell Crowe

Burgundy Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

Musk Alex Gibney

The road to Jericho Amos Gitai

Osama’s wife Ahmed Hassouna

Union Town Barbara Copple

Holy Wood Dust Victor Kossakovsky

Letters from the Silent Land Andrei Kutsila

Biography of Jorge Luis Borges Mariano Llinas

My Unwanted Friends Part II – Expulsion Julia Loktev

Boat builders Luke Lorentz

Imperium Sergei Loznitsa

Shumei – The Living Legacy of Kabuki Takashi Miike

King Edward II According to Rollason

Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace

Dust Tsai Ming-liang

Everest: The Other Side dirs. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

From the Inside – Design by Peter Zumthor Wim Wenders

Venice Open – Fiction

God laughs Giovanni Veronesi (closed film)

No Pain Gianni Amelio

Let’s Get Through Dear Ancestors Lav Diaz

Father Joe Barthélémy Grossmann

Joke Mario Martone

A Place to Stay Kornél Mundruczo

There is no Paradise when you are killed by a woman Halkawt Mustafa

Built Memory Sabu

Fundamentals of Philosophy Paul Schrader

Good Lawyer Tristan Séguéla

Jupiter Alexandre Smia