The 83rd Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and scheduled from 2 to 12 September 2026, promises to be a fundamental event for local cinema. Out of a total of 20 works selected from all over the world for the main competition, Italy is fielding a squad of 5 feature films ready to compete for the prestigious Golden Lion. Between great civil commitment, tormented family relationships and excellent returns, the auteur selection tells the story of the state of health of our cinematography, enriched by important international co-productions and stellar casts.
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“Return to Buenos Aires”: Marco Bechis reopens the wound of the disappeared
27 years after the success of Olympus garageMarco Bechis returns to explore the abyss of the Argentine dictatorship with Return to Buenos Airesan Italian-Brazilian co-production created by Fandango, 39Films, Karta Film, 34 Filmes and Rai Cinema, in theaters from 17 September. The film, shot between Porto Alegre and Turin using the settings of the Vallette bunker classroom and the San Salvario neighbourhood, follows the events of Mariano Guerra, played by Adriano Giannini.
Mariano is a doctor from Turin who moved to Argentina in the 1970s where, kidnapped and tortured in a clandestine detention centre, he was forced to reveal the names of some opponents. In 2008, after 33 years spent in Italy, the man returns to the South American capital to testify at the trial of the generals responsible for the atrocities committed while the country was hosting the 1978 World Cup. Hosted by the Ministry of Justice with other survivors, the protagonist must once again face a trauma that has never healed and the pain of memory. The cast also includes Ana Celentano, Verònica Gerez, Olivia Nuss, Adrian Fondari, Paula Cohen, Marcelo Chaparro and Marcela Serli.
“It will happen tonight”: Nanni Moretti’s great return to the Lido
After 37 years since the last presence in Competition with Red PalombellaNanni Moretti returns to the Venice Film Festival signing his fifteenth fiction feature film entitled It will happen tonight. Produced by Fandango and Sacher Film in collaboration with Rai Cinema and various French and Spanish partners, the film draws inspiration from the literary universe of Eshkol Nevo, adapting some stories from the collection Ties. The plot follows the unfolding of the complex feelings that unite Greta and Matteo, played by Jasmine Trinca and Louis Garrel, supported on screen by Angela Finocchiaro, Elena Lietti and Moretti himself.
“The Echo Chamber”: Bernardo Bertolucci’s last dream directed by Andrea Pallaoro
With The Echo Chamberdirector Andrea Pallaoro brings into competition an Italian-Belgian co-production made by Indigo Film, Versus and Rai Cinema, based on the subject and screenplay left by Bernardo Bertolucci together with Ilaria Bernardini and Ludovica Rampoldi. The story develops entirely within an apartment, transforming into an intense story of emotional ghosts and addictions. Luca Marinelli plays Leo, a tormented music producer addicted to cocaine use, while Alicia Vikander plays Anne, the physiotherapist who tries to cure him; alongside them stars Susan Sarandon in the role of an elderly music star.
“The fire you carry inside you”: Edoardo De Angelis and the clash between mother and son
Based on the novel of the same name by Antonio Franchini and produced by Picomedia, The fire you carry inside you by Edoardo De Angelis stages a fierce family showdown set during a Christmas dinner. The protagonist is Antonio, played by Lino Musella, an established Milanese editor overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of his mother Angela, played by Vanessa Scalera. The woman embodies a ruthless and overflowing portrait of an invasive and hostile Neapolitanness from which her son had tried in vain to escape. The cast also stars Elena Radonicich, Ivana Lotito and Tommaso Ragno.
“The stranger”: the soft horror film from Bari directed by Paolo Strippoli
To close the five films in competition we find The strangera work directed by the young Paolo Strippoli and produced by Propaganda Italia, Dinamo Film, Kazak Productions and Tarantula, with filming carried out in Bari in 2025. The film presents itself as a soft psychological horror centered on the unspeakable secrets of a local upper middle class family: Jasmine Trinca plays a mother who introduces herself to her daughter, played by Romana Maggiora Vergano, to reveal the truth about a dark pact made years earlier with an ambiguous stranger figure played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Adriano Giannini and Mariandrea Cesari also appear in the cast.
Italian productions out of competition and in the Orizzonti section
The offer of Italian cinema in the Lagoon is completed with numerous titles presented in the other sections of the event. Out of Competition they find space Joke by Mario Martone with Toni Servillo and Lorenzo Perrotta, No pain by Gianni Amelio with Alessandro Borghi, Valeria Golino and Valerio Mastandrea, e God laughs by Giovanni Veronesi with Pierfrancesco Favino. The section also hosts the mockumentary TV series Sindirected by Valerio Vestoso and starring Emanuela Fanelli.
Finally, in Orizzonti they stand out The girl with the Leica by Alina Marazzi, the beginnings of Anna Foglietta (A story) and Tommaso Landucci (The children of the monkey with Riccardo Scamarcio), as well as The city of the living by Edoardo Gabbriellini.
