Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival takes place Sep 2 - 12, 2026 in Venice, Italy. The dress code is Black tie for evening Sala Grande premieres. Daytime is palazzo casual - linen and silk. Flat shoes matter more than they look, given the vaporetto steps and bridges. Typical cost ranges from 2000 to 7000 EUR per person.
The world's oldest film festival, held on the Lido di Venezia since 1932 and awarding the Golden Lion. Eleven days of competition premieres in the Sala Grande, red carpets on the lagoon side, and a market that increasingly sets the shape of the awards season that follows. The 2026 edition is the 83rd.
- When
- Sep 2 - 12, 2026
- Where
- Venice, Italy
- Dress code
- Black tie for evening Sala Grande premieres. Daytime is palazzo casual - linen and silk. Flat shoes matter more than they look, given the vaporetto steps and bridges.
- Cost
- Typical cost ranges from 2000 to 7000 EUR per person.
- Weather
- 22 - 28C, warm and humid, cooler out on the water
- When to book
- Accreditation applications open in early summer and public ticket sales follow in August, with individual screenings released day by day rather than all at once. Lido and Venice hotels for the first fortnight of September need booking 6+ months ahead.
- Getting there
- VCE (Venice Marco Polo), 1h to the Lido by Alilaguna or 30 min by water taxi
- Where to stay
- Belmond Hotel Cipriani, Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido, Hotel Villa Mabapa, Lido
- Official site
- https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema
How to attend
The public can buy tickets directly at labiennale.org once sales open in August, with single screenings from around EUR 10 - 30 and multi-day passes available. Industry and press accreditation is applied for earlier in the summer and carries priority booking. Evening Sala Grande premieres are the hardest to secure - the trick is booking the same film's repeat screening the following morning, which costs the same and is far easier to get.
Insider tip
Stay on the Lido rather than in Venice proper - the last vaporetto back after a late premiere is the single thing that ruins most first-time festival trips.
Get inside Venice Film Festival
Booking matters here: accreditation applications open in early summer and public ticket sales follow in August, with individual screenings released day by day rather than all at once. Lido and Venice hotels for the first fortnight of September need booking 6+ months ahead. Members track that window, what it really costs, and 573 more events across the season.
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