5 Grounded Human Stories From Venice Film Festival
The prestigious Venice International Film Festival is finally back for its 83rd edition, and will be running on the Lido di Venezia from 2 September to 12 September 2026 with its iconic lineup of international cinema—once again drawing the world's top directors, actors, and film lovers.
Let’s look back at 5 incredible films from past editions of the festival that have either been nominated or awarded in various categories at the Venice Film Festival. These outstanding films are rooted in intimate and deeply human stories. Beneath the backdrop of war, displacement and political change, these films remind us that the personal toll on ordinary lives is ultimately what resonates the most.
1. Shadow of Fire (2023)
Set in the ashes of post-war Japan, Shadow of Fire is told through the lives of three strangers who find solace in each other—an orphan who scavenges for food, a woman who sells her body to survive, and a soldier haunted by his actions. Their bond is fragile and unspoken, built from their shared trauma. Their peace does not last—as their makeshift family begins to unravel, they fall back into the same violence they have been so desperate to escape from.
A NETPAC Award winner from the Venice Film Festival in 2023, this film accompanies raw and unforgettable performances with Tsukamoto’s intimate visual style, showcasing the quiet and lasting toll war takes on ordinary survivors. His latest submission to the upcoming 83rd Venice Film Festival, Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?, premieres on 4th September, completing the director’s informal 20th century war films—first of which was Fires On The Plain (2014). Shadow of Fire is a haunting and deeply human film that will stay with you long after it ends.
2. They Say Nothing Stays The Same (2019)
Toichi, an aging boatman, has spent his life ferrying people and goods across a river in a remote Meiji-era village. His job is threatened by the appearance of a new bridge, along with a mysterious young woman drifting in the water. His solitary world is shifted when he rescues her and his life begins to change in unexpected ways.
They Say Nothing Stays The Same premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, where it was nominated for the Fedeora Award for Best Film. Its breathtaking cinematography can be attributed to Christopher Doyle, accompanied by a beautifully haunting score from jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan. Beyond its craft, this film lingers in its emotional pull as a quiet, meditative tale about aging, loss and being left behind by the world.
3. On The Fringe (2022)
Directed by Juan Diego Botto in his feature debut, On The Fringe details the interwoven lives of three strangers who struggle to keep their lives from falling apart in a relentless 24-hour countdown. Rafa, a lawyer-activist, fights for others facing eviction while his relationship with his own family slips away. Azucena, a cashier, has to race to save her home before she loses it. And Teodora, an elderly grandmother, faces losing everything after financially supporting her son’s failed business. The film is a heartbreaking and gripping look at Spain’s housing crisis.
On The Fringe premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2022, where it was nominated for the Venice Horizons Award for Best Film. With a powerhouse cast of performers like Penelope Cruz and Luis Tosar, its tense and thrilling atmosphere holds you to the edge of your seat, finding humanity and solidarity in these suffering characters who simply wish to keep their homes.
4. To Kill A Mongolian Horse (2025)
By day, Saina is a herdsman, tending his family’s horses and navigating a strained relationship with his father and ex-wife. By night, he is a horseback performer, staging dazzling shows for tourists. Playing a version of himself in Xiaoxuan Jiang’s feature debut, Saina is forced to confront the stark contrast between his performed persona and his actual traditional personal life. Blending documentary and drama with a cast of mostly non-professional actors, To Kill A Mongolian Horse is a deeply poetic and personal portrait of a man caught between tradition and survival.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024, where Jiang won the Authors Under 40 Award for Best Directing and Screenwriting. The film was also a Director’s Award Nominee (Venice days) at the Venice Film Festival, 2024. It is worth a watch for its stunning cinematography of the Mongolian steppes, its raw, unscripted moments, and its intimate, moving meditation on staying grounded to yourself as the world around you becomes more foreign.
5. The President (2014)
When his regime is toppled by a violent coup, a fallen dictator suddenly finds himself the country’s most wanted man, with only his young grandson by his side. Disguising themselves as street musicians, they set out across the land he once ruled to seek out a ship waiting to bring them to safety. Along their journey, they come across the very people who have suffered under his rule, exposing him to the hardships and hatred his regime had left behind. Directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, this film is a sharp and unsettling tale about the abuse of power, cruelty and reckoning.
The President premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2014 where it was nominated for the Venice Horizons Award for Best Film. Partly inspired by the Arab Spring, it is a bold and satirical film that strips a dictator down to his most human and vulnerable traits, forcing both the character and the audience to come face to face with the true cost of his regime.
As the 83rd Venice Film Festival rolls around, these five grounded human stories pay tribute to what the festival celebrates best—bold and original storytelling that spotlights the human stories within a bigger world, proving that the most meaningful and unforgettable moments in cinema lives in the small, humane moments.
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