While Hollywood and streamers like Netflix and Amazon continue a trend of absence, festival director Alberto Barbera says the hard-hitting line-up reflects filmmakers' growing engagement with contemporary events.

So which of the highly anticipated films are likely to draw in the critics and crowds?

Pictures of Palestine

The conflict in Gaza has become a widely-discussed industry topic - and things are no different in Venice.

The documentary NAZA comes from two of the directors of Oscar-winning Israeli-Palestinian production No Other Land, and is one of several films in Venice about Israel's war in Gaza. Here, Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor explore Israel's AI-assisted targeting systems in Gaza.

In a statement, the directors say the film was made "out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israelis to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible."

Other documentaries that centre the conflict include Citizen Osama, about a photojournalist in Gaza, while Road to Jericho by Israeli director Amos Gitai documents Jewish extremist settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

An open letter by the Venice4Palestine initiative has pushed the festival organisers to allow the flying of the Palestinian flag "alongside those representing all the other films in the official selection for the duration of the event."

Box-office biographies

Modern biopics continue to storm into cinemas, and Venice isn't shying away from the trend.

The festival's opener is the premiere of Ink, a film detailing the origins of right-wing media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and his move to the United Kingdom to purchase The Sun newspaper in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Directed by Danny Boyle, of Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, the film is an adaptation of James Graham's original stage production, which was a major critical success. With a star-studded lineup of Guy Pearce, Jack O'Connell and Claire Foy, the film is expected to follow in the stage production's footsteps.

And it seems that controversial figures aren't in short supply: Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney, whose previous films chronicled US military abuse and corruption, has turned his attention to the world's richest man, Elon Musk.

"Hit piece for sure. Gibney is incapable of anything else," the billionaire wrote on X last month of the nearly four-hour film titled Musk.

Capturing the interest of social media, Lance Oppenheim's Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson, has been a highly-anticipated entry to the festival.

Based on the real-life story of American TV show To Catch a Predator that sought to expose pedophiles, it sees Pattinson play presenter Chris Hansen, who hosted the show for its entire run on NBC between 2004 and 2007.

Pattinson, who starred in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey released this summer, will be one of the biggest names in attendance. Giving him a run for his money is Hollywood legend George Clooney, who will pick up a lifetime achievement Golden Lion award alongside Ellen Burstyn.

Indie and arthouse

It's not just big names and stalwart directors that are on the cards.

These include Wild Horse Nine, a dark comedy by Ireland's Martin McDonagh starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, and Bucking Fastard by German veteran Werner Herzog, featuring sisters Kate Mara and Rooney Mara and based on the odd story of the identical Chaplin twins which caught the attention of the British public in the 1980s.

The Venice Film Festival is organized by La Biennale di Venezia, and will run from 2-12 September 2026.