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James Mottram

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival was defined by surprises. While this year’s line-up lacked major Hollywood studio fare, the jury – led by American actress-director Maggie Gyllenhaal and including veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To Kei-fung – still had plenty to chew over.
Labour issues emerged as a prominent theme, while the festival looked controversially to the future with the selection of Be Brave, a documentary about Diesel founder Renzo Rosso that was partly completed using artificial intelligence.
However, perhaps the biggest shock was the sight of a reunited Liam and Noel Gallagher walking arm-in-arm down the red carpet – who on earth would have predicted that a few years back?
Featuring their reunion documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, here are 10 of the best films that screened at the festival.
1. Woman Unknown


May el-Toukhy, the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker previously best known for her 2019 feature Queen of Hearts, will remember this festival for the rest of her life. Her formidable work Woman Unknown not only claimed the top prize – the Golden Lion – but also the Volpi Cup for best actress, for Mathilde Arcel.
Set in Copenhagen in the summer of 1945, with residents still reeling from the Nazi occupation, the new film stars Arcel as Marie, a nanny who must hide her past at a time when women who fraternised with German soldiers are being weeded out and publicly shamed. It is painful to watch, sublimely executed and a deserved winner.
2. Musk


It wasn’t the longest documentary playing in the festival – that honour went to Luca Guadagnino’s Joie de vivre, his seven-hour, 25-minute take on Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci – but Alex Gibney’s rigorous examination of the richest man in the world was still a marathon watch.
Clocking in at four hours and featuring a 10-minute intermission, this study of Elon Musk took audiences through SpaceX and Tesla Motors to his Twitter takeover and time heading up Doge.
Some elements flop, like using a computer-generated Musk to mouth real-life sound bites instead of an actual interview. But with ex-wife Justine among those spilling the beans, Musk makes for riveting viewing.
3. A Good Little Soldier


French writer-director Stephane Brize picked up the best screenplay prize for this savage look at corporate culture. Alba Rohrwacher is stunning as an HR manager in an insurance company who succumbs to workplace pressures when she takes on a troublesome department manager.
The moment she explodes at her own son over a video call because he is unable to complete his mathematics assignment is one of the festival’s stand-out scenes. Vincent Lindon, marking his sixth film with Brize, also shines as a ruthless boss who prioritises nothing but the bottom line.
4. Naza

A late addition to the competition line-up, Naza is the latest documentary from Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who won an Academy Award for No Other Land.
Shot on a rooftop in Tel Aviv, the film features interviews with Israeli military personnel – all speaking anonymously – who were involved in the systematic destruction of Gaza following the October 7 attack.
Filled with shocking, heartbreaking and cold-blooded revelations, the film claimed the Special Jury Prize. One imagines that jury member Kaouther Ben Hania, who in 2025 brought The Voice of Hind Rajab to the festival, pushed hard for this.
5. Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger


As one of the bigger surprises of the festival, Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern’s documentary about Oasis’ reunion tour hardly felt like Venice material, but it managed to strike plenty of poignant grace notes.
The famously fractious Liam and Noel Gallagher, who had not spoken in years after the band broke up in 2009, were on reflective form across an impressionistic work that took audiences from rehearsals to gigs in Cardiff, Manchester and then abroad, including Tokyo and Buenos Aires.
Crucially, the film includes the fans and explores what the band’s music means to them, serving as a testament to the healing power of music and the community it builds.
6. Possible Love


For our money, this was the best film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. The jury almost agreed, but ultimately, Possible Love took the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.
Awards aside, Lee Chang-dong’s first film since 2018’s Burning is a mesmerising drama about the sparks that fly when two married couples – one wealthy, one not – cross paths. Featuring an all-star Korean cast – Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong – Lee’s film unfolds with an equal measure of mastery and mystery.
Terrific performances, especially from Sul as a laid-off welder struggling to maintain his dignity, power this dense tapestry.
7. They’re Here

Like Alex Gibney, Laura Poitras is one of the great truth-seekers of our age. The director of Citizenfour and the Venice-winning All the Beauty and the Bloodshed returned to the festival with a 25-minute short, which was among the festival’s most powerful offerings.
Co-directed with Rachel Lauren Mueller, They’re Here follows anonymous Minnesotan residents as they resist the work of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers patrolling the streets on a Trump-ordained mission to detain undocumented immigrants. The sheer brutality of ICE tactics is laid bare.
8. Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?


Following Cannes, this year’s Venice festival was also a strong showcase for Japanese cinema. Shinya Tsukamoto (the cult director behind Tetsuo: The Iron Man) delivered one of the highlights with his stirring English-language tale about real-life Vietnam war veteran Allen Nelson.
A gripping, empathetic portrait of PTSD and how to face it head-on, the film benefits from Tsukamoto’s masterful casting of Broadway actor Rodney Hicks as Nelson, notably for his heartfelt scenes opposite Geoffrey Rush, who plays his therapist. It is a worthy tribute to the real Nelson.
9. Wild Horse Nine


John Malkovich took the best actor prize for Martin McDonagh’s 1973-set black comedy, just as Colin Farrell did in Venice for the director’s last film, The Banshees of Inisherin.
Here, Malkovich’s world-weary CIA agent feels like a character only he could play, from his sharp banter with his partner (played by Sam Rockwell) to his chilling pronouncements about the impending coup in Chile.
Largely set on Rapa Nui – the Polynesian island also known as Easter Island and famous for its mysterious stone carvings – the film showcases McDonagh’s expert blend of the personal and the political, making for compelling viewing.
10. Look Back


Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular one-shot manga Look Back had already been turned into a 2024 animated film, but Hirokazu Koreeda takes it a step further with this live-action adaptation.
Aju Makita, who marks her fifth collaboration with Koreeda, and Natsuki Deguchi star as teenagers who bond over their love of manga. While it can often be stultifying watching artists at work on screen, Koreeda delicately captures the rush of creativity and the fine penmanship it requires to bring such works to life.
A film about dreams colliding with reality, Look Back is a marked improvement on Koreeda’s overly sentimental Cannes entry earlier this year, Sheep in the Box.
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk walks to the stage to speak alongside Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Jeon Do-yeon (left) and Zo In-sung in a still from Possible Love. South Korean director Lee Chang-dong’s class-conscious drama was one of the best films at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Photo: Netflix

A still from Naza, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s shocking documentary featuring interviews with Israeli military personnel. Photo: Venice Film Festival via AP

A still from They’re Here, Laura Poitras’ 25-minute short shedding light on the brutality of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Photo: Tim Evans

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Christian Bables (centre) in a still from Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors.

Ronnie Lazaro in a still from Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors.

Bart Guingona in a still from Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors.

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Missagh Zareh in a still from A Bit of Light, directed by Ali Asgari and co-starring Sadaf Asgari and Forouzan Jamshidnejad. Photo: Seven Springs Pictures

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Ethan Ruan in a still from Arrested Memory.

Ethan Ruan plays a detective with amnesia in a still from Arrested Memory, directed by Sabu. Shinichi Tsutsumi co-stars.

(From left) Reika Kirishima, Hsieh Ying-xuan and Shinichi Tsutsumi in a still from Arrested Memory.

Ethan Ruan (left) and Moon Lee in a still from Arrested Memory.

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Robert Pattinson plays a fictional version of TV predator hunter Chris Hansen in a still from Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim. Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo co-star. Photo: Sinna Nasseri

Skyler Gisondo in a still from Primetime. Photo: A24

Tony Revolori (left) and Robert Pattinson in a still from Primetime. Photo: A24

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Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best


Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best.


Venice 2026: 10 of the festival’s best movies, from Woman Unknown to Possible Love and Musk

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best

Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best