Venice Critics’ Week sets 2026 slate with Colombia, China and Tunisia titles
The Venice sidebar will screen seven competition features and two out-of-competition titles on the Lido in September.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Colombia gets a double spotlight in the 2026 Venice International Critics’ Week lineup, with two competition films taking different routes through the country’s history and its aftershocks.
The sidebar, also known as Settimana Internazionale della Critica, has announced the program for its 41st edition. Organised by the Union of Italian Film Critics, known as SNCCI, the section is devoted to emerging filmmakers and will run on the Venice Lido from September 2 to 12 alongside the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
This year’s selection includes seven features competing for prizes and two out-of-competition screenings, including the opening and closing films.
Colombia leads a wide-ranging competition
Bibiana Rojas Gómez and Juan David Cárdena are in the competition with The End of Times. According to the festival, the film is a bold essay work that uses archive material and artificial intelligence to examine memory and colonialism.
Another Colombian filmmaker, Sebastián Múnera, joins the lineup with Meteorite. Programmers describe the film as a female-focused story set in a place still marked by past violence.
The competition also includes The H@llow Man from Tunisian director Kamel Laaridhi. The dystopian drama imagines a future where technology governs emotion and memory, according to the festival.
Brazilian directors Victor Di Marco and Márcio Picoli will present London, their first feature. The festival describes it as a queer story centered on the body, desire and self-determination.
Shalini Adnani, a Chilean-Indian filmmaker based in London, is selected with Our Share of Sand. The family drama deals with inequality and environmental crisis, according to the program. The project was previously presented at Cannes this year through the British Film Institute’s Great 8 initiative.
Italy’s competition entry is Prima della Guerra from Tommaso Usberti. The festival says the coming-of-age drama is set in the Po Valley and looks at contemporary masculinity.
Rounding out the competition is Zoom In, Zoom Out from Chinese filmmaker Dong Jie. According to the sidebar, the film combines mystery, online gaming and city alienation while focusing on the anxieties of Generation Z.
Opening and closing films
Marco Santi’s Il grande Giaffa will open the section out of competition. The festival identifies the film as an existential noir starring Edoardo Pesce.
The closing slot goes to Rider, the latest work from filmmaking and musical duo Roan Johnson and Davide Pavanello, who also perform as Dade. Organizers describe it as an urban musical shaped by rap and concerned with precarious labor, the wish for emancipation and the conflicts forming a changing Italy.
The 2026 selection was put together by General Delegate Beatrice Fiorentino with committee members Matteo Berardini, Marianna Cappi, Francesco Grieco and Marco Romagna.
International Critics’ Week was founded in 1984 by Lino Micciché. The sidebar has previously featured early work by filmmakers including Kevin Reynolds, Mike Leigh, Olivier Assayas, Harmony Korine, Pedro Costa and Pablo Trapero, as well as Italian directors Carlo Mazzacurati, Sergio Rubini, Antonio Capuano, Roberta Torre and Gianni Di Gregorio.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.