The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs from 2 to 12 September 2026 on the Lido di Venezia. You don’t need a ticket or accreditation to see the red carpet — you need to know where to stand, and to get there early.
I live in Venice and I’ve been photographing the Venice Film Festival since 2014. I’ve photographed the red carpet several times, and I’ve also spent those days on the other side of the barrier, in the crowd, with everyone else. This is what I’d tell a friend who asked.
When is the Venice Film Festival 2026?
The 83rd edition runs 2–12 September 2026, on the Lido di Venezia. It’s organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. This year the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement go to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn.
The full programme is announced by La Biennale at the end of July, together with the screening schedules — one for the general public, one for pass holders.
Can anyone attend?
Yes, in two different ways, and it’s worth separating them.
Screenings are ticketed. La Biennale publishes a public screening schedule alongside the one for accredited pass holders, so you can book seats without being in the industry.
Accreditation is a different thing: Press, Industry, Film Delegation, Cinema, plus student passes and reduced cards for under-26s and over-65s. Photographers fall under Press.
The red carpet needs neither. It’s outdoors and it’s free. It just costs you your day.
How do you actually see the red carpet?
You stay outside it. Right in front of the entrance there’s an area with a low wall, and from there you can see.
By the time the big films screen, there are hundreds of people packed against that wall — how many depends entirely on the film, and therefore on who’s walking. People are there from early morning. Some leave their belongings on the spot for days to hold it. You are in full sun all day, with no shade and nowhere to sit, and you’ll see people and photographers who brought stepladders from home to see over the heads in front of them.
Arrive at least two hours before the screening.
And here’s the part nobody tells you. Actors of every level walk past, and they often come over — to take photos, to shake hands with the people who got the best spots. What you get for standing there since morning isn’t a better view of someone at a distance. It’s that.
Getting to the Lido, and when to leave
From San Marco the Lido is about 20 minutes by vaporetto. It’s genuinely close.
The distance was never the problem. The hours are. In the morning, when everyone working the festival heads over, and again in the run-up to the important screenings, there are queues and the boats are full.
Every year extra runs are added for the festival, marked MC — Mostra del Cinema. They drop you directly behind the Palazzo del Casinò, right by the venues, which is why they’re often the most crowded of all.
So here’s the rule I’d give anyone: whatever vaporetto you were planning to take, take the one half an hour before it.
What the Lido is like during those ten days
Every bar and restaurant near the red carpet is chaos from morning to night.
If you want a hotel room or a table, book well ahead — not the week before, and not the day before.
What should you wear?
It depends entirely on which side of the wall you’re on.
If you’re walking the carpet, almost everyone dresses up: elegant, or deliberately loud. My advice is simple — be elegant, and be yourself. You can take a risk, but don’t overdo it. There’s a way of dressing that reads instantly as someone who came to be seen and to post about it, and it reads from across the street.
If you’re outside watching, forget elegance. You’ll be standing in the sun for hours with nowhere to sit. Dress comfortably and light, and bring an umbrella — it earns its place either way: for the rain if it comes, and for the shade if it doesn’t.
Parties often have a theme, so follow the dress code when there is one. Almost all of them are formal either way. The more private ones need a paid ticket or an invitation.
More on this: what to wear for a photoshoot in Venice.
When is the light good, if you want photographs?
Skip the middle of the day. Morning and sunset are the good hours at the Lido in early September.
And then there’s the hour most people miss entirely: after sunset, the atmosphere out there is the most distinctive of the whole day — and by then the crowd has gone.
Is it worth going?
Yes, and my reason isn’t the red carpet.
The best of it is the premieres. Before and after a screening you’re inside the festival rather than watching it from behind a wall. There are panels and talks and events; you can end up in the same room as the directors and the actors, which is a different experience from glimpsing them at forty metres.
Does the festival change Venice itself?
There are more people. But Venice in September is busy anyway, and if you’re here for a photo session in those days it changes nothing — you avoid the crowded places, and knowing which ones those are is most of the job.
What does change is that the city fills up with people who are here for the festival without being at the Lido.
A few years ago, during the festival, I was having an aperitivo in my usual bar, waiting for friends, and I got talking to the man next to me. Venice, where to eat, nothing in particular. I recommended a couple of restaurants for dinner. He left, we said goodbye, and the owner turned to me and asked how I knew him. Knew who? Then he told me the name. Hat, sunglasses. I had spent the whole aperitivo recommending restaurants to a Hollywood actor without noticing.
Quick answers
How early should you get to the red carpet? At least two hours before the screening — and some people have been holding their spot since days before.
Do you need a ticket to see the red carpet? No. The area in front of the entrance is public. You need to be early, not accredited.
Can the public buy tickets for screenings? Yes. La Biennale publishes a separate public screening schedule alongside the pass holders’ one.
How far is the Lido from San Marco? About 20 minutes by vaporetto.
What is the MC vaporetto? Extra runs added each year for the festival, arriving right behind the Palazzo del Casinò.
What should you bring if you’re watching from outside? Light, comfortable clothes and an umbrella — for the sun as much as for the rain.
When is the programme announced? End of July.
Do you need accreditation to photograph at the festival? For the press positions, yes — that’s the Press category, and photographers fall under it. For everything else, no.
Working here during the festival
I’ve been photographing this festival since 2014. I don’t apply for accreditation every year, and that’s a choice: I don’t want to be locked into the press pit for eleven days. I’d rather be moving — events, presentations, private sessions, portraits at the Excelsior.
So if you’re in Venice for those ten days — as a guest, for a brand, for a premiere — what I do is all the rest of it. Portraits at your hotel before you leave for the evening. The arrival. The parts of Venice that don’t look like a queue.
There are a lot of people in the city that week. Avoiding them is most of my job.
The Lido is not the only season when this city dresses up: in winter Venice runs on masks and gowns. I keep a full guide to the Venice Carnival balls — dates, tickets and dress codes.
