Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup revealed, led by Danny Boyle’s ‘Ink’

Artistic director Alberto Barbera and Biennale di Venezia president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco confirmed the competition and sidebar selections at a press conference in the city.

Boyle's “Ink”, which will also compete for the festival's prestigious Golden Lion, is a 1960s-set biographical drama starring Guy Pearce as media magnate Rupert Murdoch and Jack O'Connell as Larry Lamb, the editor of Murdoch-owned UK tabloid The Sun.

Netflix recently acquired the film's US rights. As at Cannes this year, organisers signalled a lighter Hollywood presence than in previous editions, though they promised a robust roster of awards contenders.

The selection carried a strong political charge. The festival's Spotlight strand includes “Conversation With the Sea” from Palestinian director Muayad Alayan, “Hombre Al Agua” featuring Mexican star Gael García Bernal, and “Ground Floor” from Hungarian director Gabor Reisz, which Barbera described as a metaphor for the Viktor Orbán “dictatorship”. The section also features “I Matter” from Alina Serban, the first film by a Roma director to screen there.

Buttafuoco, who has usually avoided political statements, used his opening remarks to criticise the European Commission after it withdrew a €2 million ($2.8 million) grant earmarked for the Biennale — a move to punish the organisation for allowing Russia to return to its art Biennale this year for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Comparing the European Commission to a “wolf” and Venice to a “lamb”, Buttafuoco said Brussels were “abandoning us… because of a political decision, not a legal decision, and certainly not a cultural decision”.

With the lineup now set, attention turns to the festival itself, where Venice's status as a key awards-season launchpad will once again put its Golden Lion contenders under the global spotlight.