HTN’s Most Anticipated Films of the 2026 Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival begins today and HTN’s very own M.J. O’Toole is on the Lido, taking in world premieres and all the Italian pasta he can eat. Hopefully the films this year will be as spicy as the arugula, because Venice is known for hosting some of the biggest world premieres. Documentary legends like Werner Herzog and Barbara Kopple will be screening alongside rising talent Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Lance Oppenheim. Below are 10 films that we’re most anticipating, (none of which we’ve actually seen yet).
Naza
The filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning No Other Land are back with a follow up, entitled Naza which refers to a term used by the Israeli military regarding how many innocent civilians they expect to kill on a given operation. The documentary is produced by Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest) and The Guardian, but it’s unclear if an enterprising distributor will come onboard to give it a real theatrical push. For the sake of all innocent Palestinians, let’s hope so. (MD)
Place To Be
In honor of her decades in cinema, Ellen Burstyn is the recipient of this year’s Honorary Golden Lion at the festival. While her role as an imagined older Marilyn Monroe in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming short film made headlines, don’t sleep on her role in the new touching road movie, Place To Be. Burstyn reunites with her Pieces of a Woman director Kornél Mundruczó in a more light-hearted tale of an elderly woman who rescues a carrier pigeon, and winds up on a journey from Chicago to New York with an unexpected travel companion (Taika Waititi) by her side. With a knockout supporting cast that includes Pamela Anderson, Murray Bartlett, and Lena Waithe, this might be the kind of film to make Venice audiences smile. (MJ)
Bucking Fastard
I’ve never seen a film that had two main characters who talk in unison throughout. Only an eccentric such as Werner Herzog would challenge himself with such an oddity, tasking Rooney Mara and Kate Mara to fulfill their sisterly bond. Orlando Bloom plays the man they both love. Herzog makes a lot of documentaries, so it will be fun to see him do another scripted feature, like his 2009 take on Bad Lieutenant with Nic Cage, which was an unhinged masterwork. Plus the head-turning title is fun to say. (MD)
Burgundy
Documentary directing duo Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw (The Truffle Hunters; Gaucho Gaucho) take their cinematic eye to the French countryside. Burgundy takes them to a different side of life in the eponymous region of France, known for its celebrated winemaking. Capturing this side of the world through the eyes of an aspiring sommelier, a young vineyard worker, an aging aristocrat, a maitre’d, and a wine critic, Dweck and Kershaw explore the generations of people behind some of the world’s greatest wines with what we hope with be their signature visual poetry. (MJ)
Possible Love
Usually I might roll my eyes at a film about a documentary filmmaker, but director Lee Chang-Dong’s Burning is one of my favorite recent films and I’m craving to see what he comes up with next. If Possible Love can reignite even a few flames of Burning’s emotional and sexual tension, then it will be worth watching. The trailer makes it feel a bit more sentimental than his previous smoldering film, but a rocky job market–the central couple is laid off–is a timely theme that could give it an edge. (MD)
A still from FURIES
Furies
With the current situation in Lebanon, all eyes should be on Rami Kodeih’s thriller Furies. Set in the midst of the country’s corruption-fuelled economic crisis, it follows sisters Maro and Dalia (Maria Nakouzi and Rym Mroue) who hatch a desperate heist plan to pay for a life-saving surgery when the bank denies them their own money. But as Murphy’s Law spelled it out in similar heist films, anything that can go wrong will. What will transpire will hopefully have audiences on the edge of their seats. (MJ)
Ink
Danny Boyle is best known for Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, but his latest film Ink may be closer to his Steve Jobs biopic (which was fantastic). With Ink he explores the world of The Sun, one of Rupert Murdoch’s early newspapers. Guy Pearce plays Murdoch and Jack O’Connell plays his partner Larry Lamb, who is the paper’s editor. Claire Foy co-stars. A behind-the-scenes workplace drama written by TV scribe James Graham. It must be a great script for Boyle to jump on it, and it’s his first film to world premiere at Venice. (MD)
Woman Unknown
The only woman with a film playing in the main competition this year is May el-Toukhy. The Danish-Egyptian brings her third feature to the festival that’s set in the complicated aftermath of World War II. Matilde Arcel stars as Marie, a young nanny and housemaid whose life begins to turn around when she’s offered marriage by her wealthy employer. But her new status is soon threatened when a past relationship with a German soldier soon rises to the surface. One should expect a compelling character study with profound moral complexities. (MJ)
Primetime
Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen in Lance Oppenheim’s narrative directorial debut. Oppenheim has made a few entertaining documentaries such as Some Kind of Heaven and Spermworld, and was a producer on The Python Hunt. This topic was recently covered in documentary form by David Osit with Predators (excellent), but a star-driven thriller is bound to make a bigger splash. Hansen himself was offered an early screening of Primetime at the A24 offices but walked away after refusing to sign a lengthy legal agreement, only to crow about it on Fox News. Soon enough he’ll face his demons, after buying his own damn ticket. It’s unlikely Hansen will be walking any red carpets for this one, but you never know. (MD)
A Good Little Soldier
French director Stephane Brizé (The Measure of a Man) is known for his profound character studies. His newest drama dives into corporate cover-ups and toxicity. A Good Little Soldier stars Alba Rohrwacher as Carla, a business executive looking to prove herself in a male-dominated world. Her moral compass is tested when she comes across a case of toxic management, which pushes her to her breaking point, affecting her career and family life. Brizé’s regular leading man Vincent Lindon also stars in what looks to be a compelling, complex study of an ever-toxic culture. (MJ)
– Matthew Delman (@ItsTheRealDel), M.J. O’Toole (@mj_otoole93)
