Murdoch and Musk in the crosshairs at Venice film festival
Danny Boyle’s drama about the acquisition of the Sun and a four-hour Elon Musk documentary will premiere alongside new films from Martin McDonagh and Werner Herzog – but only one female director has a movie in competition
The Venice film festival promises to take a swing at media moguls of the print and digital era this year, with Trainspotting director Danny Boyle’s new film about Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the Sun and a new documentary about Elon Musk included in the lineup of the films for the festival’s 83rd edition.
In Boyle’s Ink, which will open the festival on the Lido on 2 September, Australian actor Guy Pearce plays compatriot newspaper tycoon Murdoch, whose purchase of the Sun in 1969 sensationalised the media landscape and transformed public life in Britain. The script is written by Olivier award-winning playwright and screenwriter James Graham (Dear England, Brexit: The Uncivil War).
Oscar-winning veteran film-maker Alex Gibney profiles the wealthiest person in the world, rightwing agitator and owner of social network X in his four-hour documentary Musk, which will be screened out of competition in Venice.
In recent years, Venice has sought to profile itself as the glitziest and starriest of the big three European film festivals when compared with artistically challenging Cannes and politically charged Berlin.
This year’s lineup, presented by long-running artistic director Alberto Barbera this week, will still draw major stars to Venice’s waterways.
British-Irish director Martin McDonagh will showcase his new film Wild Horse Nine, in which John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell are two unlikely CIA agents in action in Chile on the eve of the coup led by Augusto Pinochet. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey also star in the awaited 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 the US reality TV show To Catch a Predator, directed by Lance Oppenheim.
Real-life spouses Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem star in French playwright-director Florian Zeller’s Bunker, in which a publisher-architect couple move to London and are invited by a millionaire to design a building that could withstand a nuclear bomb.
Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara star in Bucking Fastard, the first dramatic feature film in seven years by German cult director Werner Herzog. The film was originally announced as a biopic of Freda and Greta Chaplin, twins from York who spoke and moved in unison and gained notoriety after a brush with the law. It seems to have since veered off into a direction more familiar from the maker of Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, centred around a mission to dig a tunnel through a mountain range “in search of an imaginary land”.
Barbera said that Liam and Noel Gallagher had confirmed their attendance at the festival, for the premiere of Oasis reunion documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger, while Russell Crowe is expected to attend a screening of What Love Builds, a feature-length documentary about his band Indoor Garden Party.
But there is some more serious fare on the Lido this year. Russian-born film-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky will show the latest film to emerge out of his Dar project, likened to a Stalinist Truman Show and inspired by a Soviet research institute that contributed to the creation of the first atomic bomb.
Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa will bring his documentary Imperium, about a film that was commissioned by the Italian Communist party to glorify the triumph of the Soviet Union but ended up revealing its contradictions.
Laura Poitras’ latest documentary They’re Here, made with Rachel Mueller, dives into ICE’s intervention in Minneapolis and the killing of Renée Good, with some previously undisclosed footage.
Tragicomedies such as Caro Diario and The Son’s Room have made Nanni Moretti one of Italy’s most revered film-makers, but for the last two decades he has preferred to show his new works at Cannes rather than Venice. Showing in competition this year, Succederà Questa Notte (It Will Happen Tonight) will be Moretti’s first film in Venice since 1989.
After Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania made a mark on last year’s festival with The Voice of Hind Rajab, there is a dramatic drop in female directors in this year’s competition. After six female directors competed for the Golden Lion in 2025, Danish-Egyptian director May El-Toukhy’s drama Woman Unknown is the only female-directed film among the 20 titles in the main competition.
Venice 2026 official selection: the full list
Ink Danny Boyle
Company Casey Affleck
A Bit of Light Ali Asgari
Ritorno a Buenos Aires Marco Bechis
Un Bon Petit Soldat Stéphane Brizé
Il Fuoco Che Ti Porti Dentro Edoardo de Angelis
Woman Unknown May el-Toukhy
Bucking Fastard Werner Herzog
A Place to Heal CĂ©dric Kahn
Dau Ilya Khrzhanovsky
Look Back Hirokazu Kore-eda
Possible Love Lee Chang-dong
Wild Horse Nine Martin McDonagh
It Will Happen Tonight Nanni Moretti
Primetime Lance Oppenheim
The Echo Chamber Andrea Pallaoro
Un Peu Avant Minuit Nicolas Pariser
L’Estranea Paolo Strippoli
Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? Shinya Tsukamoto
Bunker Florian Zeller
Venice Spotlight
Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing Erik Shirai (opening film)
Conversation With the Sea Muayad Alayan
Hombre Al Agua Gael GarcĂa Bernal
Serpenti Roberto de Paolis Maino
Furies Rami Kodeih
Guria Levan Koguashvili
Ground Floor Gábor Reisz
I Matter Alina Serban
Orizzonti competition
La Ragazza con la Leica Alina Marazzi (opening film)
The Burning Giants Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
What Belongs to Others Grzegorz Dębowski
Una Storia Anna Foglietta
La CittĂ dei Vivi Edoardo Gabbriellini
Falling House Mohsen Gharaei
Too Much Sugar Robert Greene
The Difficult Bride Rubaiyat Hossain
La Maison du Vent Auguste Bernard, Kouemo Yanghu
I Figli Della Scimmia Tommaso Landucci
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra Jacqueline Lentzou
Oasis Jannis Lenz
Until the Day Ends Jelena Maksimović
La Moula JĂ©rĂ´me Pierrat
Lovers in the Blue Night Anuparna Roy
Un Détour par Diane Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni
The Color of the Sun Xavier Tera
Venice Open – Films on film
Juso Per Ferie Karen di Porto
Nino – Un Film su Nino Walter Fasano
The Pervert’s Guide to Utopias Sophie Fiennes
Joie de Vivre Luca Guadagnino
Twist and Shoot Mister Suzuki Yves Montmayeur
Intermission Yonfan
Venice Open – Nonfiction
Be Brave Francesco Carrozzini
What Love Builds Russell Crowe
Burgundy Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
Musk Alex Gibney
The Road to Jericho Amos Gitai
Citizen Osama Ahmed Hassouna
Union Town Barbara Kopple
Holy Wood Dust Victor Kossakovsky
Letters from the Silenced Country Andrei Kutsila
BiografĂa de Jorge Luis Borges Mariano Llinás
My Undesirable Friends Part II – Exile Julia Loktev
Boatbuilders Luke Lorentzen
Imperium Sergei Loznitsa
Shumei – The Living Legacy of Kabuki Takashi Miike
Queer Edward II Theo 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 Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor Wim Wenders
Venice Open – Fiction
Dio Ride Giovanni Veronesi (closing film)
Nessun Dolore Gianni Amelio
Let Us Through Dear Ancestors Lav Diaz
Father Joe Barthélémy Grossmann
Scherzetto Mario Martone
Place to Be Kornél Mundruczó
No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman Halkawt Mustafa
Arrested Memory Sabu
The Basics of Philosophy Paul Schrader
Un Bon Avocat Tristan Séguéla
Jupiter Alexandre Smia