83rd Venice Film Festival: Major Studios Absent, Danny Boyle, Kore-eda, Nanni Moretti in Competition

The 83rd Venice Film Festival, scheduled for September 2-12, will proceed without films from major Hollywood studios, continuing a trend seen at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Instead, the competition lineup features independent American films and international auteurs. Notable out-of-competition screenings include Paul Schrader's 'The Basics of Philosophy' starring Jack Huston and Sofia Boutella, while the official competition includes Lance Oppenheim's 'Primetime' with Robert Pattinson, Casey Affleck's gothic 'Company', and new works by Danny Boyle, Kore-eda, and Nanni Moretti. Werner Herzog returns with 'Bucking Fastard', his first fiction feature since 'Family Romance, LLC' (2019), competing for the Golden Lion; he describes it as completing an operatic trilogy with 'Fitzcarraldo' and 'Grizzly Man'. Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine', set in 1973 Chile and starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Mariana Di Girolamo, and Parker Posey, is also in competition. The Venice Classics section presents 19 world-premiere restorations spanning over half a century of film history, featuring works by Luis Buñuel, Roberto Rossellini, Ernst Lubitsch, John Cassavetes, Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, Ann Hui, and Ettore Scola. The festival runs on the Lido from September 2-12.