---
title: "Golden Lions  Destination: Venice Opens Its 83rd Festival "
description: The world's oldest film festival opens on the Lido with honorary Golden Lions for George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-09-02T19:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-09-02T22:01:44.567Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/golden-lions-destination-venice-opens-its-83rd-festival
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/caption (89).jpg
categories: Destinations, Food & Culture
content_type: News
region: Italy
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival opens today on the Lido and runs through 12 September, and this year's lineup arrives with a genuinely strong set of returning auteurs, two honorary Golden Lions, and one detail worth noticing on its own: major studio titles are largely absent, continuing a trend that also defined Cannes earlier this year.

Danny Boyle's Ink opens proceedings, a drama set during the early days of Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun. Guy Pearce, an Oscar nominee for last year's Venice winner The Brutalist, plays Murdoch, opposite Jack O'Connell as Sun editor Larry Lamb. It marks Boyle's first appearance at Venice as a filmmaker in the official selection, and his film will also compete for the Golden Lion alongside the rest of the main competition once the festival gets underway.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, the actress and filmmaker behind The Lost Daughter and The Bride!, presides over the main competition jury, deciding who takes home this year's Golden Lion for best film. Gyllenhaal is also bringing her own work to the Lido, a short titled Flesh Impact, a tribute to Marilyn Monroe starring Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn.

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