--- title: 'Venice 2026 Turns Political as Murdoch, Musk and Gaza Take the Lido' type: 'blog post' section: 'Industry' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Danny Boyle’s Ink opens the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2, with Alex Gibney’s Musk, Gaza documentaries and films about repression and labor giving the lineup a sharper political edge than its usual awards-season gloss.' author: 'CinePixo' published: '2026-09-03' updated: '2026-09-03' about_people: - 'George Clooney' - 'Danny Boyle' about_films: - 'Opening Night (1977)' tags: - 'Venice Film Festival 2026 political lineup' - 'Danny Boyle Ink Rupert Murdoch film' - 'Alex Gibney Musk documentary Venice' - 'NAZA Gaza documentary Venice 2026' - 'Venice 2026 films about authoritarianism' - 'Hollywood studios absent Venice Film Festival 2026' sources: - 'https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/2026-venice-festival-lineup-political-1236671090/' - 'https://www.news24.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/film/murdoch-to-musk-films-stars-and-top-directors-light-up-venice-film-festival-2026-20260902-0684' - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/movies/ink-movie-review-danny-boyle-s-rupert-murdoch-movie-is-apocalyptic/ar-AA2brDaF' - 'http://www.bgnes.com/entertainment/venice-to-welcome-clooney-oasis-and-musk-for-one-of-cinema-s-most-glamorous-events' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/venice-2026-turns-political-as-murdoch-musk-and-gaza-take-the-lido' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Venice 2026 Turns Political as Murdoch, Musk and Gaza Take the Lido *Danny Boyle’s Ink opens the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2, with Alex Gibney’s Musk, Gaza documentaries and films about repression and labor giving the lineup a sharper political edge than its usual awards-season gloss.* By CinePixo, 2026-09-03 · Industry Danny Boyle’s Ink opens the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2, and the choice of subject is a signal: Rupert Murdoch, the media owner whose 1969 purchase of The Sun helped define a modern right-wing tabloid style. Alex Gibney’s four-hour Musk follows in the out-of-competition program. Around them, Venice has programmed films about Gaza, Ukraine, immigration enforcement, labor and authoritarian power. Artistic director Alberto Barbera calls this the festival’s “most political ever.” For film readers, that changes the question Venice usually asks. The Lido is still an Oscar launchpad, but this year its arguments may matter as much as its prizes. ## Danny Boyle’s Ink Opens With Murdoch’s Media Playbook Ink dramatizes Murdoch’s arrival in British media and his acquisition of The Sun, with Guy Pearce playing Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as editor Larry Lamb. The Hollywood Reporter describes the tabloid’s mix of sex-scandal sensationalism and right-wing populism as a model later used by the New York Post and Fox News. That makes the opener more than a star vehicle. Boyle begins the festival with a story about how political influence is built: one newspaper, one editorial decision and one owner at a time. Murdoch is not a distant historical figure here. He is the starting point for a media system that still shapes public life. Gibney’s Musk then brings the argument into the present. The documentary profiles Elon Musk, described by The Hollywood Reporter as the world’s wealthiest person, a right-wing agitator and a troll. Musk has already called the film a “hit piece” on X, despite not having seen it, according to the report. His reaction gives Venice an unusually visible pre-premiere dispute before the cameras have even rolled. ![Danny Boyle au MK2 Bibliothèque dans le cadre d'une projection spéciale de "28 jours plus tard", en prévision de la sortie de "28 ans plus tard", le 3 juin 2025.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/d9b21f60-c76d-46db-a90f-a65955f07a73.webp) *Photo: ManoSolo13241324 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danny_Boyle_2025.jpg)* ## Gaza and Immigration Move From the Margins to Competition The political charge is strongest in the documentaries and dramas dealing with state violence. Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller’s They’re Here is a short documentary “horror film” about ICE’s crackdown in Minneapolis, including previously undisclosed footage, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Gaza appears across several sections. Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama follows a photojournalist trying to survive and parent in besieged Gaza. Muayad Alayan’s Conversation With the Sea centers on a Palestinian man trapped in Israeli bureaucracy. Amos Gitai’s Road to Jericho documents the threatened Bedouin hamlet Khan al-Ahmar outside Jerusalem. Venice also added NAZA to competition shortly before the festival. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two directors from No Other Land, examine systems behind Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza, according to the film’s producers as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. James Wilson produced, with Jonathan Glazer as an executive producer. BGNES reports that NAZA examines Israel’s AI-assisted targeting systems. The same agency describes Citizen Osama as a portrait of a Gaza photojournalist and Road to Jericho as a film about extremist Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. Those descriptions point to a festival where the political subject is not a side note attached to prestige cinema; it is the subject. ![President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. met with world-renowned actor George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer, during a courtesy call at Malacañan Palace on Friday.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/c6cc2993-cc66-49ea-81bc-eeec683ada6c.webp) ![Danny Boyle, Jodie Comer et Aaron Taylor-Johnson au MK2 Bibliothèque dans le cadre d'une projection spéciale de "28 jours plus tard", en prévision de la sortie de "28 ans plus tard", le 3 juin 2025.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/61cc52a8-19c7-465e-a578-d5f06f637226.webp) *Photos: Presidential Communications Office · Public domain · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2025-11-14_%E2%80%93_President_Marcos_meets_with_George_and_Amal_Clooney_to_discuss_press_freedom_(02).jpg); ManoSolo13241324 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danny_Boyle,_Jodie_Comer_et_Aaron_Taylor-Johnson_2025_2.jpg)* ## Putin, Soviet Power and the Cost of Silence The former Soviet sphere supplies another cluster of films about repression. Julia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile follows her 2024 film by examining Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on independent journalists. Belarusian filmmaker Andrei Kutsila’s Listy (Letters From the Silenced Country) is built from correspondence sent by five political prisoners. Sergei Loznitsa’s Imperium concerns a film commissioned by the Italian Communist Party to glorify Soviet victory, only to expose contradictions in the process. Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s DAU is an experimental epic about Soviet life and authoritarianism that has already caused controversy ahead of its competition premiere. Producer Alexander Rodnyansky, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, says Venice can place filmmakers with opposing political positions in conversation and honor artists willing to challenge their own governments. Irish producer Mike Downey adds that cinema has long pushed against authoritarian power, especially when regimes use film to manufacture consent. ![George Clooney with Ferdinand Marcos Jr.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/bb1c71ed-54d9-4bd3-bb71-89aa55c6972d.webp) ![Danny Boyle, Jodie Comer et Aaron Taylor-Johnson au MK2 Bibliothèque dans le cadre d'une projection spéciale de "28 jours plus tard", en prévision de la sortie de "28 ans plus tard", le 3 juin 2025.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/1ee23d67-1d4d-4c91-958b-1665b5588340.webp) *Photos: Presidential Communications Office · Public domain · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Clooney_with_Phillippine_President_Ferdinand_Marcos_Jr.jpg); ManoSolo13241324 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danny_Boyle,_Jodie_Comer_et_Aaron_Taylor-Johnson_2025_1.jpg)* ## Capitalism Buckles, Labor Organizes, Billionaires Build Bunkers Economic power gets its own set of pressure points. Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love follows the family of a laid-off worker and the affluent documentary filmmaker recording their story. In Stéphane Brizé’s Un bon petit soldat, Alba Rohrwacher plays an HR executive caught between toxic management and her boss, played by Vincent Lindon. Barbara Kopple’s Union Town, shown out of competition, closes a documentary trilogy that began with Harlan County, USA and American Dream. Its focus is the growing labor movement in the United States. Even the glossy titles carry political baggage. Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine casts John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents in Chile shortly before Augusto Pinochet’s U.S.-backed coup. Florian Zeller’s Bunker pairs Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem as spouses pulled apart by a billionaire’s plan for an underground nuclear shelter. ## Venice’s Red Carpet Has Less Hollywood, More Argument News24 reports that Hollywood studios have largely stayed away, while Netflix and Amazon are also absent after strong showings in 2025. Rising production costs and wider uncertainty have reduced the star wattage, even as George Clooney, Robert Pattinson, John Malkovich, Cruz and Rooney Mara are expected on the Lido. Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are also due to present a documentary about their reunion tour. That retreat leaves more room for independent and art-house films, but it also removes some of the machinery that usually turns Venice into an awards-season marketplace. The festival remains a major Oscar predictor: News24 notes that films first screened there supplied eight of the past 10 acting winners and eight of the past 13 directing winners. Venice’s political arguments do not stop at the screen. Last year, The Voice of Hind Rajab drew a 22-minute ovation, Palestinian flags and chants of “Free Palestine,” while thousands protested on the Lido. The Venice4Palestine collective has issued another open letter this year, signed by Roger Waters, Annie Ernaux, Matteo Garrone and Isabel Coixet, calling for concrete action in support of Palestine. Venice was founded under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime. In 2026, Barbera appears to be treating that history as a responsibility. The festival opens with Murdoch, puts Musk in the spotlight and asks its audience to sit with Gaza, repression and labor before the Golden Lion is handed out. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [George Clooney](https://cinepixo.com/people/george-clooney) - [Danny Boyle](https://cinepixo.com/people/danny-boyle) - 1977 · [Opening Night](https://cinepixo.com/movies/opening-night-1977) ## Sources - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/2026-venice-festival-lineup-political-1236671090/ - https://www.news24.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/film/murdoch-to-musk-films-stars-and-top-directors-light-up-venice-film-festival-2026-20260902-0684 - https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/movies/ink-movie-review-danny-boyle-s-rupert-murdoch-movie-is-apocalyptic/ar-AA2brDaF - http://www.bgnes.com/entertainment/venice-to-welcome-clooney-oasis-and-musk-for-one-of-cinema-s-most-glamorous-events Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/venice-2026-turns-political-as-murdoch-musk-and-gaza-take-the-lido Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.