10 FILMS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS FROM THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2026
words by TIANA DE HASETH
The 2026 Venice Film Festival has come to an end, leaving a major mark on the international film industry. Held annually at the Lido di Venezia in Italy, the festival brought together some of the biggest filmmakers and actors, featuring 21-feature-length films in its main competition. Each film represented a distinct genre and style, making this year’s must-watch selection a diverse list.
BUNKER BY FLORIAN ZELLER
Bunker is a dramatic thriller that stars real life couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, that tells a story of about an architect who accepts a project to build a survivalist bunker for a billionaire tech. As the project progresses, his wife starts to grow suspicious and question their 17- year marriage. The movie explores the complexity of love, trust and marriage and how fear and doubt shapes them.
image courtesy of BUNKER
PRIMETIME BY LANCE OPPENHEIM
Inspired by the reality series To Catch a Predator, Primetime follows Robert Pattinson as a dramatized version of host Chris Hansen. The film explores the intensity of viral television culture and the exploitation, sensationalism, and ethical questions surrounding the practice of publicly exposing suspected pedophiles on television.
image courtesy of A24
BUCKING FASTARD BY WERNER HERZOG
Bucking Fastard, follows two close-knit sisters who share an extraordinary bond where they fall for the same man, speak at the same time, and even experience the same dreams. Their unusual connection attracts public attention when they become involved in a court case, exposing their private lives into the spotlight.
image via LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
THE SPIRAL BY PAOLO STRIPPOLI
The spiral is a thriller about a family who gets confronted after a woman arrives at their doorstep. She reveals a dark family secret and exposes a pact that was made with a stranger to save her daughter's leg after a horrific accident twenty years earlier.
image via LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
WOMAN UNKOWN BY MAY EL-TOUKHY
When a young housemaid is about to marry the wealthy older man she works for, a shameful secret regarding a past intimate relationship with a German soldier returns to haunt her. Meanwhile, she does everything in her power to preserve her new status as the lady of the house amidst post-war anarchy.
image via IMDb
COMPANY BY CASEY AFFLECK
On a cold winter night, a mysterious woman arrives uninvited to a holiday party and tells a story about an aging hermit named Tom who rescued a stranded actress during a fierce Colorado blizzard in 1953. As the story unfolds, the film becomes a gothic drama that explores grief, revenge and an unexpected kinship that connects each people through generations.
image via LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
WILD HORSE NINE BY MARTIN MCDONAGH
Wild Horse is a dark comedy film that takes place in 1973 about two CIA agents, Chris and Lee who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, and end up with two rebellious young women. Their actions and conspiracies turns their assignment into chaos, further testing their survival and loyalty.
image via LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
POSSIBLE LOVE BY LEE CHANG-DONG
Possible Love follows a laid-off worker and his wife who cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse to document a film but end up confronting their hidden desires.
image via IMDb
NAZA BY YUVAL ABRAHAM, RACHEL SZOR
NAZA is a documentary film about Israeli’s AI powered mass killing of Gaza civilians, revealing Israeli’s system, technology, and military practices used to identify and target Palestinians at an unprecedented scale.
image via LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
