Murdoch and Musk in the crosshairs at Venice film festival

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.

Sam Rockwell (left) and John Malkovich in Wild Horse Nine. Photograph: Diego Araya Corvalán/Searchlight Pictures/AP

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 Cédric 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 García 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 Città 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 Jérôme 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

Biografía 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