Venice Critics' Week 2026 Announces International Film Competition Lineup

The 41st edition of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (International Critics’ Week), a parallel sidebar of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, will run from 2–12 September 2026. Curated by General Delegate Beatrice Fiorentino, the programme presents seven debut‑feature films in competition and two out‑of‑competition events. The opening film is Marco Santi’s existential noir *Il grande Giaffa*; the closing film is the urban musical *Rider* by Roan Johnson and Davide Pavanello.

The competition line‑up includes: - *The End of Times* (Colombia) by Bibiana Rojas Gómez & Juan David Cárdenas, an archive‑AI essay on memory and colonialism; - *Meteorite* (Colombia) by Sebastián Múnera, a female‑centred story set in a violence‑haunted landscape; - *The H@llow Man* (Tunisia) by Kamel Laaridhi, a dystopia where technology controls emotion and memory; - *London* (Brazil) by Victor Di Marco & Márcio Picoli, a queer drama centred on a disabled performer’s search for self‑determination; - *Our Share of Sand* (India/UK/Greece) by Shalini Adnani, a family drama on inequality and environmental crisis; - *Prima della Guerra* (Italy/France) by Tommaso Usberti, a coming‑of‑age tale exploring contemporary masculinity in the Po Valley; - *Zoom In, Zoom Out* (China) by Dong Jie, a mystery‑gaming fusion reflecting Generation Z anxieties.

The selection’s theme is “cinema as an act of resistance”. As Fiorentino remarked, “In un mondo che cambia, scegliere quali storie mostrare non può essere mai un atto neutrale.” The competition will award the Leão do Futuro (Luigi De Laurentiis Lion) and a US$ 100 000 prize to the best debut.

The event brings together filmmakers from four continents, highlighting issues of identity, colonial legacy, technological control, labour precarity and environmental disparity.