Venice Film Festival 2026: Stars, Films and Major Highlights

2026 Venice International Film Festival is currently taking place and getting Hollywood superstars and prominent moviemakers together to Venice Lido in Italy, from September 2 to 12.

Actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal is serving the event as president of the main competition jury, while Greta Scarano and Nicolas Maupas stars of the Italy are hosting the festival’s opening and closing events.

The festival is also honouring two major Hollywood stars. Actress Ellen Burstyn and actor and filmmaker George Clooney will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for their contributions to cinema.

This year’s festival has also attracted attention beyond its film programme. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s NAZA was added to the main competition on August 24 following safety concerns.

Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s DAU has sparked controversy at the festival, from Ukrainian authorities, which has raised concerns about the project’s alleged ties to Russian state networks. The organizers of the festival denied all the allegations with artistic director Alberto Barbera describing them as an unacceptable manipulation of reality.

The festival’s main competition jury press conference was also delayed and eventually held on the opening day. The decision came amid concerns over questions about global political issues at recent film festivals.

The event has also seen calls for stronger support for Palestine, with several prominent filmmakers and artists signing an open letter organised by the Venice4Palestine collective.

The festival opened with Danny Boyle’s biographical drama Ink and is scheduled to close with Giovanni Veronesi’s period drama God Laughs.