Kendall Jenner, John Malkovich and Parker Posey arrive at the 2026 Venice Film Festival

The event has come to be seen as an early finger in the wind ahead of the Oscars. This year, the movies in the running for the Golden Lion prize are deep, dark and, politically charged. Danny Boyle’s “Ink” – an adaptation of the acclaimed play about the early years of Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) and his acquisition of London tabloid paper “The Sun” – kicked off the festival on its opening night. Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard,” with sisters Kate and Rooney Mara who fall in love with the same man (Orlando Bloom), followed; as well as Florian Zeller’s “Bunker,” in which real-life partners Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem play a couple whose marriage becomes strained after the husband agrees to build a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire. However, the lineup has drawn criticism for its lack of female directors — this year just two films, May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown” and Rachel Szor’s “NAZA,” directed by women are in the main competition for the grand prize.

“There’s a systemic problem. It’s much harder for women to get their films financed,” said director Maggie Gyllenhaal, the jury president for this year’s festival. “Who decides what’s good and valuable?” Gyllenhaal is also screening a short Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn, though it’s not competing.

With just a handful of Hollywood stars set to grace the carpet, there’s reason to believe the fashion on show might skew considered and cerebral. But with musicians like Phoebe Bridgers as well as Liam and Noel Gallagher expected to make an appearance — the Gallagher brothers are rarely seen on a red carpet, let alone together — there’s still plenty to look forward to.

Scroll down to see this year’s best and boldest looks

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in a silk lavalliere shirt and black pants by Celine. Lorenzo Franzoni/Getty Images