Venice Film Festival Unveils Star-Studded Lineup: Pattinson, McDonagh, and Exclusive Premieres Set to Dazzle!

The 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival is set to host a vibrant array of new projects from renowned international directors, according to artistic director Alberto Barbera. The lineup, which runs from September 2 to 12, leans heavily towards works from indie filmmakers, despite a relative scarcity of Hollywood studio or streamer-backed features. Nonetheless, the selection promises significant star power and cinematic depth, ensuring a thrilling experience for film enthusiasts. Adding a unique touch this year will be the world premiere of the Oasis reunion documentary, “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” with British brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher anticipated to attend.

The main Competition section boasts several high-profile entries. Martin McDonagh, a Venice veteran whose previous films “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” premiered at the festival, returns with “Wild Horse Nine.” This dark comedy, distributed by Searchlight Pictures, follows CIA agents dispatched to Easter Island before the 1973 Chilean coup, starring an ensemble cast including John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey.

Florian Zeller, known for “The Son,” brings “Bunker,” an eagerly awaited psychological thriller. It features Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz as a real-life couple whose lives are disrupted by a mysterious bunker commissioned by a powerful tech mogul, with Paul Dano, Stephen Graham, and Patrick Schwarzenegger also starring. Sony Pictures Classics holds the North American and Southeast Asian rights. The festival's previously announced in-competition opener is Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” starring Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as Larry Lamb, chronicling the 1969 launch of “The Sun” tabloid. Claire Foy plays Lamb's fictional wife, Jules Davies. Netflix recently acquired the U.S. and Latin American rights to this film, which marks Boyle's Lido debut.

Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard” is also in competition, featuring sisters Rooney and Kate Mara as twins who dig a tunnel through a mountain range in search of a land where true love exists. Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson co-star. This marks the Rooney sisters' first on-screen collaboration. U.S. director Lance Oppenheim, known for the HBO series “Ren Faire,” presents “Primetime,” an A24 production starring Robert Pattinson as a journalist whose dive into the criminal underworld changes television forever. Another U.S. indie entry in competition is Casey Affleck-directed Gothic mystery “Company,” set on a winter night in 1975, starring Nick Nolte, Adelaide Clemens, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Emily Alyn Lind, and Caylee Cowan. This film, Affleck’s third directorial feature, explores parallel tales from a mysterious woman named Evelyn.

A strong Italian contingent is led by veteran auteur Nanni Moretti with “It Will Happen Tonight,” featuring French star Louis Garrel and Italian A-lister Jasmine Trinca. Loosely based on Eshkol Nevo’s short story collection “Hungry Heart,” its plot remains under wraps. This film marks Moretti's first Lido launch in over two decades. Chilean-Italian helmer Marco Bechis competes with “Back to Buenos Aires,” a drama about the crimes of the Argentine dictatorship. Andrea Pallaoro's “The Echo Chamber,” starring Alicia Vikander and Luca Marinelli as lovers and featuring Susan Sarandon, is based on an unfinished script by Bernardo Bertolucci. Younger Italian talent includes Paolo Strippoli’s high-concept thriller “The Spiral” (L’estranea), exploring a problematic mother-daughter relationship with Jasmine Trinca and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and Edoardo De Angelis’ dark tragicomedy “Il Fuoco che ti Porti Dentro.”

The copious French selection includes Stéphane Brizé’s “A Good Little Soldier,” with Alba Rohrwacher navigating a corporate environment, and Vincent Lindon. Cédric Kahn’s “15/18” (A Place to Heal) is set in a French public hospital’s adolescent psychiatry unit, while Nicolas Pariser’s “A Bit Before Midnight” sees Melvil Poupaud examining his life after his father's death, also starring Léonie Simaga, Chiara Mastroianni, and Golshifteh Farahani.

Asian entries feature prominently, with Japanese festival circuit favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Look Back,” a live-action adaptation of a Tatsuki Fujimoto manga story about two girls aspiring to be manga artists. Beloved Korean helmer Lee Chang-dong’s Netflix film “Possible Love” centers on two couples with vastly different lifestyles. Cult Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” stars U.S. stage actor Rodney Hicks and Geoffrey Rush in a portrait of Vietnam veteran Allen Nelson.

Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, the sole female director in the 20-title competition, presents post-WWII drama “Woman, Unknown.” It follows Marie, a former housekeeper haunted by past secrets as she prepares for her engagement. Ilya Khrzhanovsky unveils a new entry in his monumental DAU project, “DAU,” having renounced his Russian citizenship and criticized Putin, though he has faced allegations regarding his treatment of women on set. An Iranian director (unnamed) also competes with “A Bit of Light.”

The Venice Open (Out of Competition — Fiction) section includes Giovanni Veronesi’s “Dio Ride” as the closing film, Gianni Amelio’s “Nessun Dolore,” Lav Diaz’s “Makikiraan Po,” Mario Martone’s “Scherzetto,” and Alexander Smia’s “Jupiter.” Luc Besson’s action thriller “Father Joe,” starring Kiefer Sutherland as a man of faith battling 1990s New York City’s criminal underworld, with Al Pacino as a powerful mob boss, is another notable out-of-competition title. Paul Schrader’s “The Basics of Philosophy,” starring Jack Huston as a philosophy professor grappling with past guilt, continues Schrader’s acclaimed “man in a room” narratives. Kornél Mundruczó’s “Place to Be” features Ellen Burstyn, Taika Waititi, and Pamela Anderson in a drama about an unlikely friendship centered on returning a lost racing pigeon.

The Out of Competition — Non-Fiction section is rich with documentaries. Russell Crowe’s “What Love Builds” chronicles his band “Indoor Garden Party.” Alex Gibney’s “Musk” offers an epic investigation into Elon Musk’s public persona. Barbara Kopple’s “Union Town” interweaves labor stories in and around New York City. Palestinian director Ahmed Hassouna’s “Citizen Osama” portrays a photographer juggling fatherhood and journalism amidst the Gaza war. The Kurdish/Norwegian film “No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman” follows a female sniper seeking vengeance and to rescue her sister from ISIS. Notably, the Disney-backed “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which follows the band’s recent reunion tour and features their first joint interviews in over 25 years, will open in IMAX and cinemas worldwide on September 11, 2026, before streaming on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu and Disney+ in the U.S.

The Horizons section, dedicated to cutting-edge works, opens with Alina Marazzi’s “La Ragazza Con La Leica” (The Girl With the Leica), about war photographer Gerda Taro. A significant entry in this section is Rubaiyat Hossain’s “The Difficult Bride,” a supernatural feminist drama that marks the first Bangladeshi feature film to screen in Venice’s Horizons competition. Acquired by Films Boutique for international sales, the film, featuring Bangladesh National Film Award winners Azmeri Haque Badhon, Rikita Nondine Shimu, and Sunerah Kamal, alongside Zaineen Chowdhury Karim in her lead debut, unfolds at a Dhaka beauty parlor as a bride's wedding preparations lead her into an unsettling world shaped by an urban legend of a bride who died mysteriously at the salon. Produced by France’s Les Films de l’Après-Midi with co-producers from Portugal, Bangladesh, Norway, and Germany, the film also received backing from Eurimages and other funds. It features cinematography by Leonor Teles and a score by Jim Williams. Hossain’s previous features include “Meherjaan,” “Under Construction,” and “Made in Bangladesh.” The film’s selection is particularly timely given the pressures on women's rights in Bangladesh from extremist religious groups.

Another highlight in the Horizons competition is Jannis Lenz’s “Oasis,” for which Totem has acquired international sales rights. This film centers on a school where a viral video of a student threatening classmates spirals into escalating violence, leading three outcasts to find refuge in a forest where play becomes ritual and pain an escape. Produced by Germany’s Zeitgeist Filmproduktion FFM with Austrian and German co-producers, “Oasis” captures the fragility of adolescence, exploring themes of fear, exclusion, and violence. Lenz, a Vienna Film Academy graduate mentored by Jessica Hausner and assistant to Michael Haneke, previously directed award-winning shorts like “Wannabe” and “Soldat Ahmet.” The cast includes Florian Geißelmann, Godehard Giese, Anton Petzold, and Mathilda Smith.

Maggie Gyllenhaal will preside over the jury, joined by Hong Kong filmmaking giant Johnnie To, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, French director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli, composer Daniel Blumberg, and U.S.-based Italian film academic Francesco Casetti. Gyllenhaal will also present an out-of-competition short, “Flesh Impact,” starring Ellen Burstyn, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sepideh Moafi. Lifetime achievement awards will be bestowed upon George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn.