Venice crowns a political 83rd edition as Bangladesh celebrates double triumph makes history

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival, which ran from 2 to 12 September, closed with the sound that has become its signature: applause that refuses to end. Martin McDonagh's dark comedy "Wild Horse Nine" drew a 13-minute standing ovation, and Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem earned 15.5 minutes for the marriage drama "Bunker". Both were eclipsed by "Naza", a devastating account of the Israeli military's remote killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which set a festival record with a staggering 24.5-minute ovation.

Artistic director Alberto Barbera called the line-up "the most political ever", and the films bore him out. Jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal defended the turn, calling cinema "fundamentally, unavoidably political", while lamenting that only two Golden Lion contenders were directed by women. "There's a systemic problem," she said. "It's harder for women to get films financed."

George Clooney, arriving without a film, still stole the show, collecting the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. John Malkovich stormed into the Oscar race as an eccentric CIA agent in "Wild Horse Nine", his first serious awards buzz in three decades, while 30-year-old Lance Oppenheim announced himself with A24's "Primetime", starring Robert Pattinson. Offscreen, the story was the heat, with A-listers fanning themselves on the red carpet.

Bangladesh's presence made the deepest mark. Rubaiyat Hossain's "The Difficult Bride" won the Premio Bisato d'Oro, the independent critics' award, capping the country's first-ever feature in Venice's Orizzonti competition. Set around a Dhaka beauty parlour, a wedding and a childhood fear, the film examines beauty, femininity and the pressures of turning girls into women — a story Hossain nurtured for nearly two decades. It is carried by a largely women-led creative team and led by Zaineen Chowdhury Karim in her acting debut, in an international co-production spanning France, Portugal, Norway and Germany.

The triumph was not alone. Filmmaker Rakayet Rabbi won Best Director at the Son of a Pitch Award 2026 — an independent competition running alongside the festival — for his short "The Sweetness of Air: Hawai Mitha", about a child who trades bullet casings for cotton candy against a wartime backdrop. Announced on 10 September at the Hotel Excelsior, the jury praised its "restrained, human-centred storytelling". "Receiving such a prestigious award on the international stage, representing Bangladesh, is the greatest feeling of my life," Rabbi said. It marked his second Venice recognition after the 2024 Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival.