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/APBritish-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 listInk Danny BoyleCompany Casey AffleckA Bit of Light Ali AsgariRitorno a Buenos Aires Marco BechisUn Bon Petit Soldat Stéphane BrizéIl Fuoco Che Ti Porti Dentro Edoardo de AngelisWoman Unknown May el-ToukhyBucking Fastard Werner HerzogA Place to Heal Cédric KahnDau Ilya KhrzhanovskyLook Back Hirokazu Kore-edaPossible Love Lee Chang-dongWild Horse Nine Martin McDonaghIt Will Happen Tonight Nanni MorettiPrimetime Lance OppenheimThe Echo Chamber Andrea PallaoroUn Peu Avant Minuit Nicolas PariserL’Estranea Paolo StrippoliMr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? Shinya TsukamotoBunker Florian ZellerVenice SpotlightSumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing Erik Shirai (opening film)Conversation With the Sea Muayad AlayanHombre Al Agua Gael García BernalSerpenti Roberto de Paolis MainoFuries Rami KodeihGuria Levan KoguashviliGround Floor Gábor ReiszI Matter Alina SerbanOrizzonti competitionLa Ragazza con la Leica Alina Marazzi (opening film)The Burning Giants Phuttiphong AroonphengWhat Belongs to Others Grzegorz DębowskiUna Storia Anna FogliettaLa Città dei Vivi Edoardo GabbrielliniFalling House Mohsen GharaeiToo Much Sugar Robert GreeneThe Difficult Bride Rubaiyat HossainLa Maison du Vent Auguste Bernard, Kouemo YanghuI Figli Della Scimmia Tommaso LanducciA Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra Jacqueline LentzouOasis Jannis LenzUntil the Day Ends Jelena MaksimovićLa Moula Jérôme PierratLovers in the Blue Night Anuparna RoyUn Détour par Diane Ann Sirot, Raphaël BalboniThe Color of the Sun Xavier TeraVenice Open – Films on filmJuso Per Ferie Karen di PortoNino – Un Film su Nino Walter FasanoThe Pervert’s Guide to Utopias Sophie FiennesJoie de Vivre Luca GuadagninoTwist and Shoot Mister Suzuki Yves MontmayeurIntermission YonfanVenice Open – NonfictionBe Brave Francesco CarrozziniWhat Love Builds Russell CroweBurgundy Michael Dweck, Gregory KershawMusk Alex GibneyThe Road to Jericho Amos GitaiCitizen Osama Ahmed HassounaUnion Town Barbara KoppleHoly Wood Dust Victor KossakovskyLetters from the Silenced Country Andrei KutsilaBiografía de Jorge Luis Borges Mariano LlinásMy Undesirable Friends Part II – Exile Julia LoktevBoatbuilders Luke LorentzenImperium Sergei LoznitsaShumei – The Living Legacy of Kabuki Takashi MiikeQueer Edward II Theo RollasonOasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger Dylan Southern, Will LovelaceDust Tsai Ming-liangEverest: The Other Side dirs. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy ChinFrom Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor Wim WendersVenice Open – FictionDio Ride Giovanni Veronesi (closing film)Nessun Dolore Gianni AmelioLet Us Through Dear Ancestors Lav DiazFather Joe Barthélémy GrossmannScherzetto Mario MartonePlace to Be Kornél MundruczóNo Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman Halkawt MustafaArrested Memory SabuThe Basics of Philosophy Paul SchraderUn Bon Avocat Tristan SéguélaJupiter Alexandre Smia