Venice lineup announced

A balanced look at the Venice lineup and what it suggests about the direction of world cinema this year.

Venice lineup signals bold cinema

The Venice Film Festival opens with a slate of premieres that mix prestige drama with bold director voices, signaling a festival that wants to spark conversations as much as celebrate craft. Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt puts Julia Roberts in a morally tense role as Alma Olsson, a Yale philosophy professor whose life becomes complicated when a PhD candidate accuses a colleague of sexual assault. Pietro Marcello returns with Duse, a biographical drama about Eleonora Duse during a pivotal era, framing art as a form of resistance in unsettled times. Jim Jarmusch offers a triptych in Father Mother Sister Brother about adult children and distant parents across three cities with a starry cast. Guillermo del Toro revisits Frankenstein with Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth, while Werner Herzog pursues a mythic pursuit in Ghost Elephants, described as a fantasy of elephants.

Other premieres broaden the scope: Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia depicts power and transition through a fictional president, while Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite promises high-stakes drama in a political thriller about a misfired threat. Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly teams George Clooney and Adam Sandler in a bittersweet Europe-bound road movie, and Park Chan-wook returns with No Other Choice, a drama about a laid-off worker who grows ruthless to keep his job. The lineup signals a festival that choreographs art with urgency, mixing intimate character studies with big ambitions and global settings.

The slate hints at a cinema that leans into political consciousness while chasing spectacle. The presence of veteran auteurs alongside rising voices shows an appetite for both lineage and risk. It also invites scrutiny on budgets, distribution strategies, and audience reception as streaming metrics increasingly shape festival choices. The risk is not just backlash but investor nerves about the sustainability of prestige projects in a tougher market.

At a moment when audiences seek meaning as much as escape, Venice seems to favor potency over polish. If these films land with critics and viewers, they could extend the festival’s influence into awards season and push debates about power, memory, and responsibility in cinema. If not, the lineup may still reveal a willingness to test limits and redefine what prestige cinema can mean in a changing industry.

Highlights

The festival keeps cinema honest about power and artistry.