Raphael AbrahamSep 9, 2026 – 4.00pmVenice | There was a time when film festivals were the preserve of glamorous stars and revered directors. It is telling that at this year’s Venice Film Festival much of the buzz has instead surrounded divisive tech titan and sometime trillionaire Elon Musk.We had already seen a rising Rupert Murdoch in Ink and murderous CIA men in Wild Horse Nine, but Alex Gibney’s near-four-hour documentary Musk threatened to give the world’s oldest film festival a cold dose of urgent reality.Financial TimesSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles