23/07/2026 - The two sections of the 83rd Venice Film Festival draw a new map of the present, from historical memory to social crises, from migration to family conflicts

History in its many guises and present-day tensions run through the Orizzonti competition hosted by the 83rd Venice Film Festival which, as artistic director Alberto Barbera stressed today while unveiling the Official Selection (read our news), once again attests to cinema’s ability to turn current events into stories and to act as “an extraordinary tool to make sense of reality”.

Set to open the 19-strong competition is La ragazza con la Leica by Alina Marazzi (We Want Roses Too), which is an adaptation of Helena Janeczek’s eponymous novel shining a light on photojournalism pioneer Gerda Taro, who was long overshadowed by her partner, Robert Capa. Italy is one of the most prominent countries in the selection, also presenting A Common Story, which marks the directorial debut of actress Anna Foglietta (If Life Gives You Lemons) and which follows the crisis experienced by a woman who’s forced to redefine her identity when her daughter leaves home for university. Family bonds are also at the heart of I figli della scimmia, the fiction feature debut of documentary-maker Tommaso Landucci (Caveman), in which Riccardo Scamarcio plays a father grappling with his son’s disability in a drama deliberately steering clear of melodramatic twists. La città dei vivi by Edoardo Gabbriellini (Holiday, The Landlords) is somewhat darker in tone, transposing Nicola Lagioia’s book to bring one of the most shocking crime stories of recent years to the big screen.

Standing tall among the European titles on the agenda is A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, which is the second feature film by Greek director Jacqueline Lentzou (Moon, 66 Questions), telling a story unfolding over a single day which follows a rebellious teenager through family dynamics, first loves and a friendship destined to change the course of events. Poland will offer up What Belongs to the Others, a sophomore feature by Grzegorz Debowski (Next to Nothing) about a woman weighed down by life who seeks out redemption by appropriating another person’s life. Austria is represented by Manuel Wetscher’s debut feature Eklipse, which is a coming-of-age tale set at the end of the 1990s in which two cousins spend a summer working on their uncle’s farm, as the fear of AIDS fuels prejudice and exclusion. From Germany comes Oasis, a debut film by Jannis Lenz who trained at the Vienna Film Academy under Michael Haneke and Jessica Hausner, and who sensitively explores the dynamics of marginalisation within a school environment.

Serbia is bringing Until the Day Ends to the competition, the first fiction film by documentary-maker Jelena Maksimović (Homelands) which is a stylistically radical depiction of the student protests against the corrupt powers that be. In the French language, La Moula by journalist and screenwriter Jérôme Pierrat uses the mockumentary genre and a humorous, paradoxical approach to explore drugs trafficking in the port of Marseille, while Diane In the Loop by Anne Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (Madly in Life, The (Ex)perience of Love) takes a woman’s thirst for revenge as its starting point to ultimately reflect on the unpredictable consequences of violence.

Rounding off the Orizzonti competition, we find the Thai title The Burning Giants by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (who previously won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film with Manta Ray), which is set in a dystopian future; the Iranian work Falling House by Mohsen Gharaei, which is an indictment of the patriarchy; The Difficult Bride by Bangladeshi director Rubaiyat Hossain (Made in Bangladesh), which reflects on the female condition; and The Color of the Sun by Japan’s Xavier Tera, about teenage friendship in Okinawa. They’re joined by House of the Wind, which is Cameroonian filmmaker Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu’s debut feature about the scars left by migration; Lovers in the Blue Night by Indian director Anuparna Roy, telling a love story between immigrants in the slums of Mumbai; Big Little Things by newcomer Michelle Zhou, which looks at the difficulty of living openly as a same-sex couple in contemporary China; and Too Much Sugar, the new work by US filmmaker Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine) which focuses on one family’s attempt to reconstruct their past through film.

As for the Venice Spotlight line-up, now at its second edition, the eight selected titles competing for the Audience Award chart a path across some very different cultures and genres, while focusing on characters facing deep, personal and collective transformation. Opening the section is the Japanese documentary Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing by Erik Shirai, which is the result of six years of filming the gruelling training of several young sumo champions from an insider’s perspective. Snake, the third feature film by Roberto De Paolis (Pure Hearts, Princess), steals focus among the European titles: written together with the D'Innocenzo brothers and starring Alessandro Borghi and Valeria Golino, the movie marks De Paolis’ move away from realism to embrace the surreal and the grotesque.

Georgia is represented by Guria, courtesy of Levan Koguashvili (Brighton 4th), which takes a humorous yet affectionate look at daily life in a community grappling with the difficult period following independence. Hungary’s Gábor Reisz (previously awarded the Orizzonti Prize for Best Film via Explanation for Everything) is returning to Venice, this time round with Ground Floor, a grotesque comedy set in a block of flats consumed by mould, which becomes a clear metaphor for Orbán-era Hungary. Last but not least, the highly autobiographical film I Matter, which is the directorial debut of Romanian filmmaker Alina Șerban (the first Roma woman director to present a feature in the selection), is set to round off the European panorama, drawing on the author’s experience in the orphanages where she grew up and where she now works on theatre and film projects with children.

Other eye-catching titles include Gael García Bernal’s third directorial outing, Hombre al agua, which interweaves reflections on Latin American identity, migration, masculinity and Central American politics. From Palestine comes Conversation with the Sea by Muayad Alayan (The Reports on Sarah and Saleem), centred on a man forced to confront his unresolved past when an Israeli court orders him to pay his deceased son’s tax debts. Lebanon, for its part, will offer up Furies, Rami Kodeih’s first film which is set during the economic collapse which overwhelmed the country in 2019. George Clooney is one of the film’s executive producers.

The selected titles are as follows:

Orizzonti

La ragazza con la Leica – Alina Marazzi (Italy/Germany, opening film)
The Burning Giants – Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thailand/France/Singapore/Taipei/Netherlands)
What Belongs to the Others – Grzegorz Debowski (Poland)
A Common Story – Anna Foglietta (Italy)
La città dei vivi – Edoardo Gabbriellini (Italy)
Falling House – Mohsen Gharaei (Iran/USA/Germany)
Too Much Sugar – Robert Greene (USA)
The Difficult Bride – Rubaiyat Hossain (France/Bangladesh/Portugal/Norway/Germany)
House of the Wind – Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu (Cameroon/France/Belgium/Benin/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
I figli della scimmia – Tommaso Landucci (Italy)
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra – Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece/Germany/France)
Oasis – Jannis Lenz (Germany/Austria)
Until the Day Ends – Jelena Maksimović (Serbia/Bulgaria/Slovenia/Montenegro)
La Moula – Jérôme Pierrat (France)
Lovers in the Blue Night – Anuparna Roy (India/USA)
Diane In the Loop – Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (Belgium/France)
The Color of the Sun – Xavier Tera (Canada/Italy/Japan)
Eklipse – Manuel Wetscher (Austria/Italy)
Big Little Things – Michelle Zhou (Hong Kong/USA)

Orizzonti Short Films Competition

Angelo azzurro – Tommaso Acquarone (Italy)
Test Track – Lydia Cornett (Hungary/UK/USA)
Motmama – Jessica Di Costa (Australia)
Una fortaleza – Alba Gaviraghi (Chile)
Los poderes – Salim Jaller (Colombia/France)
Head of a Camel – Shannon Lee (USA)
Tropic of the Mourning Gecko – Stavros Markoulakis (Greece/France/Netherlands)
Sasso, carta, forbici – Virginia Mori (Italy/France)
Bleu au loin – Amir Houshang Moein (France)
Man Made Lake – Annie Ning (USA/China)
Quelques instants de bonheur – Shaden Safieddine Tazi (France/UK)
Silence – Pavlo Shpegun (Ukraine)
Paper Plane – Saoirse Ronan (UK/Ireland)

Orizzonti Short Films - Out of Competition

Il senso della terra – Alessandro Ingaria, Simone Massi (Italy)
Sounds from Home – Nathan Silver (France/USA)

Venice Spotlight

Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing – Erik Shirai (Japan/USA/Denmark/UK, opening film)
Conversation with the Sea - Muayad Alayan (Palestine/Netherlands/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
Hombre al agua – Gael García Bernal (Mexico)
Snake – Roberto De Paolis (Italy)
Furies – Rami Kodeih (Brazil/Lebanon)
Guria – Levan Koguashvili (Georgia/Switzerland/Luxembourg/Bulgaria/Turkey/Norway/Saudi Arabia)
Ground Floor – Gábor Reisz (Hungary/Italy)
I Matter – Alina Șerban (Romania/Germany/Belgium)

(Translated from Italian)