Venice has long served as the glamorous launchpad for star-studded Hollywood movies—the place where films including Joker, Gravity and Brokeback Mountain were first screened. The festival, which typically runs from late August into early September, has in recent years doubled as an early staging post in the awards season, with several Best Picture winners using a Lido premiere as a springplant. But ever since the box office disappointment Joker: Folie à Deux was critically mauled at its 2024 Venice world premiere, Hollywood has come to regard Venice as risky. Warner Bros' Digger, starring Tom Cruise, had been expected to premiere on the Lido, but London will host its global launch instead. Here is the lowdown on the 83rd edition's line-up.

Hold the front page for Ink

The opening film, Ink, has a British theme. According to director Danny Boyle, it examines how Rupert Murdoch (played by Guy Pearce) and an unscrupulous editor of The Sun (Jack O'Connell) created the world's biggest-selling newspaper "long before Fox News, click bait and Truth Social; decades before Twitter, Facebook, Google and Only Fans."

Netflix—rumoured to be buying Letterboxd—swooped for US rights last month, just as it reported record UK revenues of £2bn, putting it ahead of its rival ITV (£1.9bn). The deal underscores how streaming platforms, which once stayed away from festival acquisitions, now compete directly with traditional studios for prestige titles. Searchlight Pictures, a division of Disney, will launch Martin McDonagh's Easter Island-set Wild Horse Nine, a dark comedy starring Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich as two bumbling CIA operatives caught up in a Chilean coup.

Don't Look Back in Anger

Two years ago, the idea that the warring Gallagher brothers would share a gondola seemed fanciful. But Liam and Noel will attend the world premiere of their reunion tour documentary, Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger. Disney, having already reached $4bn in the 2026 US box office, will launch it on IMAX. Speaking of which, IMAX's stock has just reached record highs, driven by its biggest-ever hit, The Odyssey.

The Gallaghers won't be the only musicians showcasing work: Russell Crowe directs the documentary What Love Builds, about his band Indoor Garden Party's world tour, while Sting narrates Nino – A Film About Nino Rota, telling the story of The Godfather composer.

Star-spotting at the San Clemente Palace

The San Clemente Palace Venice is the newly revamped five-star luxury hotel located on its own private island with panoramic lagoon views. A favourite of Sophia Loren, it is a peaceful, exclusive retreat featuring a rarity in Venice: a stunning outdoor swimming pool set in spectacular Mediterranean gardens.

Survival of the richest at the Venice Film Festival

Doom-prepping is the theme of Florian Zeller's psychological thriller Bunker. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz play an architect and his frustrated wife who take on the task of building a tech billionaire's survivalist bunker. Sony Pictures—still celebrating Spider-Man: Brand New Day's $2.3 billion gross—will distribute it through its Classics division.

Alex Gibney profiles Elon Musk in the four-hour-long documentary Musk. Gibney is one of documentary's most prolific directors, with credits including Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Going Clear. Don't expect X to promote it, though: Musk called it a "hit piece" after Gibney went to court to force the SEC to release Musk's video testimony from its civil fraud investigation.

Film Festival hotspots

The Elizabeth Unique Hotel Venice is the discreet new waterfront destination for movie stars in Cannaregio. The suites' striking design and expansive bathrooms soothe the soul after a day's movie-going. Expect to see Robert Pattinson there at Da Grandma for his new A24 film PrimeTime.

The five-star Sina Centurion Palace Hotel overlooks the Grand Canal, a short walk from the Guggenheim. The Antinoo' restaurant is a foodie magnet, and movie stars will be plentiful at its tranquil courtyard garden for the legendary Dive e Donna party. For dinner, the new hotspot is La Casati, with its own glorious secret garden in the new Oriental Express Venezia Hotel—the author sealed the financing for the film Brilliant Rivals there over a course of marinated beef with artichokes.

Venice Film Festival familiar favourites

Al Pacino plays a crime-busting priest in the action thriller Father Joe, while George Clooney receives the Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion. Elsewhere, jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal premieres Flesh Impact, with Dakota Johnson as Marilyn Monroe. As Marilyn presciently observed: "Only the public can make a star. It's the studios who try to make a system out of it." More than 60 years after her death, the studio system and Monroe are still conspicuous at this year's all-star edition of the Venice Film Festival.

Dr Frank Mannion is a filmmaker and academic whose new book, The Dependent Distributor, will be published next month.