Venice Critics’ Week Announces the 2026 Competition Line‑up

The 41st edition of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica – better known as Venice Critics’ Week – will roll out on the Lido from September 2 to 12, 2026, right alongside the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI) and curated by General Delegate Beatrice Fiorentino together with Matteo Berardini, Marianna Cappi, Francesco Grieco and Marco Romagna, the programme promises a mix of daring debuts and seasoned voices.

Seven films have earned a place in competition. Colombian duo Bibiana Rojas Gómez and Juan David Cárdena open the slate with The End of Times, a radical essay‑film that stitches together archive footage and AI‑generated imagery to interrogate memory and colonisation. Also from Colombia, Sebastián Múnera’s Meteorite offers an intense, women‑centred drama that erupts in a landscape scarred by violence.

From North Africa, Tunisian filmmaker Kamel Laaridhi brings The H@llow Man, a bleak dystopia where technology dictates feelings and recollection. Brazil’s fresh voices Victor Di Marco and Márcio Picoli debut London, a queer tale that follows a young couple navigating desire and identity in a city that feels both foreign and intimate.

London‑based director Shalini Adnani, whose roots span Chile and India, presents Our Share of Sand, a family saga that folds environmental collapse into a personal struggle for justice. Italy contributes Prima della Guerra by Tommaso Usberti, a wistful coming‑of‑age story set against the quiet plains of the Po Valley. Finally, Chinese auteur Dong Jie rounds out the competition with Zoom In, Zoom Out, a mystery that probes Generation Z’s alienation through the neon‑lit world of online gaming.

Two titles will screen out of competition. Marco Santi’s Il grande Giaffa, starring Edoardo Pesce, opens the section with an existential noir that lingers long after the credits roll. The closing film, Rider, is a kinetic urban musical by Roan Johnson and Davide Pavanello (aka Dade), a rap‑filled ode to precarious work and youthful rebellion in contemporary Italy.

Since its founding in 1984 by Lino Micciché, Critics’ Week has been a launchpad for bold, off‑beat cinema. This year’s line‑up continues that tradition, offering a global snapshot of voices that are as diverse as the city of Venice itself.