Donald Clarke on what has gone down a storm in the opening week of Venice International Film Festival 2026

Everybody Digs Bill Evans, the Dublin actor’s new film, is a finely balanced marvel about the jazz pianist. You wouldn’t know it was shot in Ireland

Plus: Sylvester the cat’s catchphrase is associated with which dish?

In its minor-chord fashion, this sad film immerses viewers in the coolness of jazz in the years before the explosion of rock

He plays James Stagg, who had pivotal role in second World War, with Kerry Condon as Eisenhower’s secretary

Highest honour in US television awarded for Tiernan’s work on episode of Spider-Noir series

If fiction is any guide, Venice remains unchanged by the cinematic locusts who descend for its annual film festival

Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Domhnall Gleeson and Joe Bird feature in a quartet of movies released in the week of September 4th, 2026

What is it with Australians and Robin Hood? Errol Flynn, Russell Crowe and now Hugh Jackman

Louis Paxton’s fascinating feature debut alternates briny whimsy with something more sinister

Plus: Which Irish actor is premiering her first film as director at this year’s event?

Venice film festival 2026: Werner Herzog’s imagination is as creatively offbeat as ever in this film starring Kate and Rooney Mara and Domhnall Gleeson

Venice Film Festival 2026: This rambunctious pageant chronicles how the British media lost the last strand of its innocence

New movies from Martin McDonagh, Danny Boyle and Werner Herzog will also take centre stage at Italian event

The actor has carved out a place at the centre of the Hollywood film industry. But it comes second to his sense of home