Everything you need to know about the 2026 Venice Film Festival

Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich star in “Wild Horse Nine,” Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy and perhaps the most anticipated film competing for the top prize [AP Photo]

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are heading to Venice, Italy, for the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday.

Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know about the festival, the Oscar buzz and who’s going.

It’s one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, second only to Cannes, and technically the oldest. Venice is also a reliably starry affair, gathering some of the best films in international cinema, and it often factors into the Oscars race.

The film festival was established in 1932, then a non-competitive event, by the La Biennale di Venezia, hosting films like “Grand Hotel” and “It Happened One Night.” By 1935, it decided to make it an annual event. Suspicions that the festival was succumbing to fascist influences actually led to the establishment of the Cannes Film Festival as an alternative after the 1938 edition.

The Golden Lion award as we know it today wouldn’t be introduced until 1949. “Rashômon” won in 1951, and other winners throughout history include “Belle de jour” in 1967, “Au revoir les enfants” in 1987, “Brokeback Mountain” in 2005, “Somewhere” in 2010, “Poor Things” in 2023 and, last year, “Father Mother Sister Brother.”

Venice kicks off the fall festival season

The festival kicks off today and runs through Sept. 12, when the awards will be announced. The opening night film is Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” an adaptation of the acclaimed stage play about the early years of Rupert Murdoch — played by Guy Pearce — and his acquisition of the daily newspaper The Sun. Jack O’Connell and Claire Foy also star.

Who’s going this year

George Clooney is back to being a near-annual fixture. This time he’ll be at the festival to pick up a lifetime achievement award. He’s also a producer on “Furies.” Other stars expected include Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis, Rooney and Kate Mara, Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Pamela Anderson, Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Louis Garrel, Cho Yeo-jeong and Ellen Burstyn, who is also getting a lifetime achievement award.

Big films and docs draw attention

As far as awards are concerned, perhaps the most anticipated is Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy “Wild Horse Nine,” starring Rockwell and Malkovich as a pair of CIA agents before the 1973 Chilean coup. McDonagh’s previous films “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” premiered at Venice and went on to receive best picture nominations. There is also excitement about Pattinson playing “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen in “Primetime,” Cruz and Bardem co-starring in Florian Zeller’s psychological drama “Bunker,” the Mara sisters playing twins in Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard” and Lee Chang-dong’s first film in eight years, “Possible Love.”

In the documentary category, Alex Gibney is bringing “Musk,” his nearly four-hour investigation into the world’s richest man, and Julia Loktev continues her sprawling portrait of independent Russian journalists in “My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile.” “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” also follows the Gallagher brothers during their 2025 reunion tour.

Controversies are brewing

Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s film “DAU,” inspired by the lives of the Soviet physicists working on the atomic bomb, has been at the center of some heated discourse. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of Ukraine in Italy questioned its inclusion in the festival, where it’s playing in competition, calling it a “project linked to the Russian state and its networks of influence.”

Festival director Alberto Barbera defended its selection, writing in a statement that it “is not a Russian film. It is not pro-Putin propaganda. It is a film that denounces totalitarian regimes and their intrusion into citizens’ lives to restrict their freedom.”

Khrzhanovsky also wrote a lengthy rebuttal on Facebook, writing that the movie “should not be prematurely judged on the basis of false associations, distorted chronology, or assumptions that contradict the documented history of the project. I have been and remain opposed to Russia’s war against Ukraine and to the political system that made this war possible.”

Earlier this year, geopolitical tensions spilled over into the Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition after the jury quit in protest over the participation of Russia and Israel.

The group Venice4Palestine, which last year hosted a large scale protest during the festival, asked that it “suspend all agreements with entities and institutions linked to the Israeli government,” although it did not specify any films. It also asked that the Palestinian flag be flown “throughout the festival.” There are two Palestinian films in the official selection: “Al Mowaten Osama” by Ahmed Hassouna and “Hiwar ma’ albahr” by Muayad Alayan.

Among the narrative films, “To Catch a Predator” host Hansen may be concerned about his portrayal in “Primetime,” which is based on the 2007 Esquire article, “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die.” He was not involved in the making of the film, which was written by Ajon Singh and directed by Lance Oppenheim.

Also, out of 21 films in competition for the Golden Lion, only one was directed by a woman, May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown.” The last time the competition had only one woman, in 2018, the festival committed to have at least half of the films in competition be directed by women by 2020. It has yet to happen.

The festival holds court on an island

When people think of Venice, they usually think of landmarks like the Ponte di Rialto and the Piazza San Marco. The festival takes place elsewhere, on a nearly 7-mile (11-kilometer) barrier island called the Lido, which is about a 20-minute ferry, or vaporetto, ride away.

A military outpost in the 12th century, it transformed into a seaside resort, a favorite of European aristocrats, by the end of the 19th. The Venice Lido was the primary setting for Thomas Mann’s novella “Death in Venice,” and Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film adaptation.

Venice plays into the Oscar race

Barbera thinks Venice’s place in the Oscar race was solidified in 2013 when they hosted the premiere of “Gravity,” which went on to win seven Oscars the following March, establishing Venice as a place to launch a campaign. It’s only intensified as the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gotten more international. Since 2014, the festival has hosted four best picture winners — “Birdman,” “Spotlight,” “The Shape of Water” and “Nomadland.”

Last year, it hosted two best picture nominees in “Frankenstein” and “Bugonia.”

Celebrities live it up on the islands

On the Lido, the only five-star hotel is the Hotel Excelsior, which dates back to 1908. But there are many luxury hotels on the different islands that offer a bit more privacy, away from the frenzy of the festival and photographers.

Perhaps the most famous of the bunch is the Hotel Cipriani, on Giudecca, home of one of Clooney’s favorite bars. Another favorite is the Gritti Palace, where everyone from Brad Pitt to Elizabeth Taylor has stayed. There is a St. Regis and the Aman Venice, where George and Amal Clooney were married. The historic Hotel Danieli has also recently reopened as a Four Seasons property after a major renovation.

Stars travel by boat

The scattered hotels are also the reason you see so many celebrities photographed on the Excelsior docks: They arrive to the festival, including press conferences and premieres, by private water taxi. Sometimes, they’re transported a very short distance from the Excelsior to the red carpet in cars, generally from whichever car company is sponsoring that year. Unlike on the main island of Venice, motorized vehicles are allowed on the Lido, including buses and private cars. But many festivalgoers prefer to bike.

The jury gets the final say

Actor and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal is presiding over the main competition jury, which includes Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, English composer Daniel Blumberg, French filmmaker Xavier Giannoli, Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To. The award winners will be announced on Sept. 12. LINDSEY BAHR, VENICE, MDT/AP