{"id":13101,"date":"2026-08-19T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.queerlion.it\/?p=13101"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:00:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:00:45","slug":"competition2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.queerlion.it\/en\/competition2026\/","title":{"rendered":"20. Queer Lion award: films in competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The line-up of the 12 titles competing for the 20. Queer Lion Award is possible thanks to the direct and precious collaboration of the different selection committees of the 83. Venice International Film Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n

All films with a duration of 30 minutes or more, with relevant LGBT themes and characters, are eligible for the Queer Lion Award competition.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the 2026 line-up, special thanks go to:
\n<\/em>Alberto Barbera<\/em><\/strong>, Angela Savoldi<\/strong>, Paolo Bertolin <\/strong>(for all the sections of the official selection, and in particular Venezia 83, Venice Open, Orizzonti); Michel Reilhac<\/strong> (Venice Immersive, Biennale College Cinema); Federico Gironi<\/strong> (Venice Classics); Gaia Furrer<\/strong>, Francesco Bonerba<\/strong> (Giornate degli Autori); Beatrice Fiorentino<\/strong> (Venice International Film Critics\u2019 Week). <\/em><\/p>\n

Last but not least, thanks to all of those contributing to the success of Queer Lion Award, directly and indirectly, from the experts and consultants of the Cinema Department to the Press Office, Accreditations Office, Secretariat and Protocol Office.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The 20th Queer Lion Award will be awarded by a jury composed by members of the Board of Queer Lion Association:<\/p>\n

Daniel N. Casagrande<\/strong>, creator\/founder of the award, journalist and film critic, member of the National Italian Film Critics Association<\/em> and of the European Film Academy<\/em>. Has a collection under his name at Cineteca di Bologna<\/em> dedicated to rediscoveries of silent cinema. He taught Film Language History and worked as a videomaker.
\nMarco Busato<\/strong>, actor, contributor for Radio Capodistria<\/em> (Slovenia) and Radio Company<\/em> (Italy), and member of the European Film Academy<\/em>.
\nJani Ku\u0161trin<\/strong>, cultural operator, external collaborator and jury member of the Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival<\/em>, the oldest queer-themed film festival in Europe.
\nAdriano Virone<\/strong>, cultural promoter, gay activist and DJ, founder of Arcigay Ottavio Mai<\/em> (Ivrea). He previously collaborated with the Torino LGBT Film Festival<\/em> and created Queever. Now a key figure in Nottalgia<\/em>\u2019s events and serves as social media manager for various LGBTQ organizations in Piedmont, particularly the Quore Association<\/em> and the TO Housing<\/em> project.<\/p>\n

The QL team in attendance in Venice Lido during the whole 83. Venice International Film Festival will also include Marco Visca <\/strong>and Alessio Bortolozzo<\/strong> (Marco Visca Studio), in charge of the photo and video production. Last but not least, special thanks to Francesco Gangemi<\/strong>, graphic designer and webmaster.<\/p>\n

\n
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Queer Lion Award 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I Plant My Hand in the Garden<\/strong> by Boris Had\u017eija and Hoda Taheri (Germany, Serbia, USA, 83\u2019)
\nPresented in the Giornate degli Autori<\/a> section
\nIn Berlin, Hoda, a pregnant Iranian refugee, and Boris, a queer Serbian gay man, choose to marry and raise the child together. Blending autobiography and fiction, the film explores identity and family through the blurred boundary between reality and fiction, questioning inherited models of love, masculinity, and fatherhood.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 03 | 17:00 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Queer Edward II<\/strong> by Theo Rollason (UK, 95\u2019) doc
\nPresented in the Venice Open<\/a> section
\nSpring 1991. As queer life comes under attack in Britain, Derek Jarman turns Edward II<\/em> into an act of radical protest. Using previously unseen footage from the set, the film tells the story of the power, courage, and price of queer visibility, both then and now.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 04 | 14:30 Sala Grande | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

La citt\u00e0 dei vivi<\/strong> by Edoardo Gabbriellini (Italy, 103\u2019)
\nPresented in the Orizzonti<\/a> section
\nA young man searches for his place in the world, while around him a city marked by loneliness and contradictions slips toward an inexplicable tragedy that exposes its deepest cracks. Based on the novel by Nicola Lagioia, which reconstructs the murder of Luca Varani.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 04 | 16:45 Sala Darsena | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

The Basics of Philosophy<\/strong> by Paul Schrader (USA, 94\u2019)
\nPresented in the Venice Open<\/a> section
\nProfessor Jorissen lives an ordinary, repressed life until the return of the victim of a past transgression reopens a wound that never healed. Caught between guilt, desire, and obsession, he spirals toward a reckoning. The film is directed by Paul Schrader, a master of contemporary American cinema.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 04 | 21:45 Sala Grande | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Tijuana, Todav\u00eda <\/strong>(Still, Tijuana) by Gabriel Gutierrez Morales (Mexico, 94\u2019)
\nPresented in the Biennale College Cinema<\/a> section
\nIn Playas de Tijuana, a young queer Russian fleeing the war in Ukraine and a middle-aged gay man meet on a dating app, hiding behind digital identities. When their connection moves into the real world, the two confront the wounds of exile and the weight of machismo.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 05 | 17:15 Sala Giardino | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

London<\/strong> by Victor Di Marco and M\u00e1rcio Picoli (Brazil, 90\u2019)
\nPresented in the International Critics\u2019 Week<\/a> section
\nLondon, a young disabled man, works as a dom in a fetish club with his friends Luke and Lil\u00e1. When a diagnosis could help him understand his body, he fears being reduced to a label. This is the feature debut of Victor Di Marco and M\u00e1rcio Picoli, award-winning Brazilian filmmakers for their short films.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 06 | 13:45 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Sal\u00f3n de belleza<\/strong> by Nathalia Acevedo (Mexico, France, 110\u2019)
\nPresented in the Giornate degli Autori<\/a> section
\nIn an unnamed city, a beauty salon run by a former gay hairdresser becomes a shelter for outcasts suspended between life and death. Through rituals, memories, and visions, reality and imagination dissolve as beauty and death intertwine in a sensory meditation on the fragility of existence.
\n<\/strong>Official screening | Sep 08 | 16:30 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

The Color of the Sun<\/strong> by Xavier Tera (Canada, Italy, Japan, 111\u2019)
\nPresented in the Orizzonti<\/a> section
\nDuring the final summer before graduation, Kamei and his friends become acquainted with Colin, a teenager who grew up on an American military base. Amid sexual awakenings, friendships and betrayals, the relationship between the two boys becomes the heart of a coming-of-age story about desire and bonding.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 09 | 16:30 Sala Darsena | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Camouflage<\/strong> by Mykyta Gibalenko (Germany, 102\u2019)
\nPresented in the Giornate degli Autori<\/a> section
\nIn 2021, Vitaly leaves Ukraine for Munich in search of a new life. Joining a theatre group makes him feel welcome, but the Russian invasion forces his mother and sister to flee. Amid migration, war, and family conflicts, Vitaly confronts the distance between his own identity and his roots.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 09 | 16:45 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Huangyan shenghuo <\/strong>(Big Little Things) by Michelle Zhou (Hong Kong SAR, USA, 109\u2019)
\nPresented in the Orizzonti<\/a> section
\nA middle-class Chinese family finds itself in crisis when their daughter, Lei, brings a man home on New Year\u2019s Eve and asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend. The unexpected arrival of her real partner triggers a crisis of intimacy.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 11 | 14:30 Sala Darsena | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Peau d\u2019homme<\/strong> (A Man\u2019s Skin) by L\u00e9a Domenach (France, 104\u2019)
\nPresented in the Giornate degli Autori<\/a> section
\nPart comedy, part musical, Blanche is a princess betrothed against her will. Thanks to a mysterious skin that allows her to take on a male appearance, she approaches her future husband in disguise, discovering a new world and challenging gender roles, freedom, and desire.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 11 | 16:45 Sala Perla | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

Lovers in the Blue Night<\/strong> by Anuparna Roy (India, USA, 107\u2019)
\nPresented in the Orizzonti<\/a> section
\nOn the outskirts of Mumbai, four migrants \u2013 a married gay man, his wife, a thief, and a pimp \u2013 intertwine their lives amid love, desire, and survival. In her second film, Anuparna Roy portrays a humanity suspended between loneliness and the need to belong.
\nOfficial screening | Sep 11 | 17:30 Sala Darsena | Tickets – All accreditations<\/p>\n

\n

La Biennale di Venezia: tickets<\/a> | subscriptions<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Queer Edward II by Theo Rollason<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
La citt\u00e0 dei vivi by Edoardo Gabbriellini (photo \u00a9 Lucia Iuorio)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Huangyan shenghuo (Big Little Things) by Michelle Zhou<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tijuana, Todav\u00eda (Still, Tijuana) by Gabriel Gutierrez Morales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
I Plant My Hand in the Garden by Boris Had\u017eija and Hoda Taheri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sal\u00f3n de belleza by Nathalia Acevedo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Camouflage by Mykyta Gibalenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Peau d\u2019homme (A Man\u2019s Skin) by L\u00e9a Domenach (photo \u00a9 Laurent Champoussin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
London by Victor Di Marco and M\u00e1rcio Picoli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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