Giornate degli Autori has announced the lineup for its 23rd edition, which will take place from September 2 to 12 during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
The independent section returns with ten films in competition, five special events, one closing film outside competition and nine titles in Venetian Nights, its programme dedicated to contemporary Italian cinema. The overall selection was drawn from 1,036 submissions representing 114 countries and includes 25 world premieres, 13 of them Italian, with 14 directed by women.
An Independent Platform Within Venice
Giornate degli Autori was created in 2004 as an independent section running alongside the Venice Film Festival. Its structure was inspired by Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, with the objective of creating a space for films defined by originality, research, innovation and artistic independence.
The initiative is promoted by the Italian filmmakers’ associations ANAC and 100autori and organised by the non-profit Associazione Culturale Giornate degli Autori. Although it operates with its own artistic direction and selection process, its films are screened in venues made available through the Venice Film Festival.
Since its creation, the section has also developed into an informal meeting point for filmmakers, producers, distributors, journalists and audiences. Its limited competition of ten films gives each selected work greater visibility during a festival period crowded with premieres and international industry activity.
The 2026 edition is led by Artistic Director Gaia Furrer and is dedicated to Giornate degli Autori founder Giorgio Gosetti, who died in March 2026. Gosetti founded the section and remained its guiding figure for more than two decades. This year’s edition is being presented under the phrase “Stay with me!”, an expression he regularly used with the festival team.
Ten Films Enter the 2026 Competition
The competition will open with Lili Horvát’s My Notes on Mars, the Hungarian director’s first English-language feature. Starring Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend, the film marks Horvát’s return to Giornate degli Autori after Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time competed in 2020.
The remaining competition includes María Aparicio’s A veces me entra tristeza, otras veces rebelión, Kuba Dorabialski’s Agata the Writer, Nicola Sorcinelli’s Balcanica, Mykyta Gibalenko’s Camouflage and Damilola Orimogunje’s Dear Ajayi.
Also competing are I Plant My Hand in the Garden, directed by Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri; Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s Les Indes; Nathalia Acevedo’s Salón de Belleza; and Robert Guédiguian’s Une femme aujourd’hui.
The selection combines emerging filmmakers with established international directors. Nigeria enters the Giornate competition for the first time with Dear Ajayi, while Balcanica is the only Italian film included in the main competition.
Léa Domenach’s Peau d’homme will close the section outside competition. The film, starring Karin Viard and Catherine Deneuve, is adapted from the graphic novel of the same name.
Special Events and Venetian Nights
Five films have been selected as special events: Ashgan El-Hamus’ Al Baraneya, Francesca Archibugi’s Carla Lonzi, dentro e fuori dal mondo, Ignacio Masllorens and David Lamelas’ El fantasma, Cosimo Messeri’s Il massacro and Samuele Rossi’s Se venisse anche l’inferno.
The wider programme will also pay tribute to three important figures in 20th-century Italian culture: feminist writer and art critic Carla Lonzi, author Natalia Ginzburg and Fernanda Wittgens, the first woman to direct Milan’s Brera Museum.
Venetian Nights, organised with Isola Edipo, will present nine Italian titles. The programme will open with Roberta Torre’s Scarpe rotte, starring Barbara Ronchi.
The selection also includes Anatomia di un ritratto by Francesco Clerici and Mattia Colombo, Giuseppe Schillaci’s Auber 89, Giovanna Giuliani’s Domenica capitale – Genere domenicale, Beppe Tufarulo’s Il mestiere and Elisabetta Giannini’s La leggenda del deserto.
Completing the Venetian Nights lineup are Riccardo Giacconi’s Memoria del lampo, Si sveglia e sbadiglia, il gatto; poi l’amore by Federico Francioni and Samuele Sestieri, and Alessandra Lancellotti’s Uno si distrae al bivio.
The collaboration with Miu Miu Women’s Tales will continue for a fifteenth year, with new short films from Claire Denis and Mona Fastvold. Fastvold’s contribution, #31 Discipline, is already included in the confirmed film programme.
A Section Focused on Discovery and Distribution
All ten competition films are eligible for the GdA Director’s Award, which includes a €20,000 prize divided equally between the winning filmmaker and the film’s international distributor. The distributor’s share must be invested in the film’s international promotion.
Leading the 2026 jury is Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón, joined by Italian director and editor Sara Fgaier and Hania Mroué, founder and director of Beirut’s Metropolis Cinema. Audiences attending screenings at the Sala Perla will decide the Audience Award, while eligible European productions will also compete for the Europa Cinemas Label.
For the international industry, Giornate degli Autori remains an important platform for films that might otherwise struggle to attract attention within the scale of Venice. By limiting its main competition to ten titles, the section gives filmmakers, producers and sales companies a stronger opportunity to secure press coverage, build festival momentum and generate distribution interest.
Bringing together first-time directors, established filmmakers, international premieres and Italian independent cinema, the selection continues the section’s original mission: offering Venice an alternative space where artistic identity and discovery matter more than the size or commercial profile of a production.
Giornate degli Autori therefore enters its 23rd edition with a lineup that reinforces its position as one of Venice’s most important platforms for independent cinema, emerging voices and international discovery.
