All the films not to be missed in 2026

The new cinematic year opens under the sign of great authors and of stories radicals. Between highly anticipated returns and new visions, the calendar of the coming months promises a cinema that questions the present, rereads the classics and tests the boundaries of the story. From Park Chan-wook to Chloé Zhao, from Paolo Sorrentino to Nanni Moretti, that’s it ten films – five international and five Italian – destined to mark the season.

“No other choice” di Park Chan-Wook

You Man-su (Lee Byung Hun), a paper manufacturing specialist with 25 years of experience, leads a simple and peaceful life with his wife Miri (Son Yejin) and their two children. Work is more than a profession, it is what gives shape to one’s identity: “I have everything I want” one can say with pride. However, when his company fires him without warning, his life takes a turn for the worse and he risks seeing what he has built collapse: the mortgage on the house, the greenhouse he takes care of with passion, the dance lessons with his wife, even the maintenance of the two golden retrievers to whom the children are very attached. In desperation, he tries everything by introducing himself to Moon Paper, the company where he is certain he can demonstrate his worth. Convinced that he deserves that job more than anyone else, he makes a very specific decision: “If there isn’t a place for me, I will find a way to make space for myself.”How far will he be willing to go if there is no other choice? At the cinema from January 1st with Lucky Red.

“Sirat” by Olive Laxe

A man searching for his missing daughter reaches a rave in the Moroccan desert with his son. When the two join a group of ravers headed to another mysterious party, their search turns into an unimaginable odyssey. Winner of the Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival and film chosen by Spain as candidate for Best International Film at the 98th edition of the Oscars®, CRY it’s a visceral journey that tests the physical and psychological limits of the human being. At the cinema from January 8th with MUBI.

“Grace” by Paolo Sorrentino

Mariano De Santis is the President of the Republic. No references to existing presidents, completely the result of the author’s imagination. Widowed, Catholic, he has a daughter, Dorotea, a jurist like him. At the end of his mandate, between boring days, the last tasks arise: decide on two delicate requests for mercy. Real moral dilemmas. Which intersect, in a seemingly inextricable way, with his private life. Moved by doubt, he will have to decide. And, with a great sense of responsibility, this is what this great President of the Italian Republic will do. At the cinema from January 15th with Piper Film.

“Marty Supreme” by Josh Safdie

Marty Mauser is a shoe salesman with an unstoppable obsession with ping pong which moves in New York in the 1950s among scams, bets, forbidden passions and dreams of glory. A daring existence for a character who dreams big, eccentric and highly ambitious, immoderate and legendary. Next to Timothy Chalametstarring Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’Zion, Tyler Okonma (the rapper Tyler, The Creator), Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher. At the cinema from January 22nd with I Wonder Pictures.

“Hamnet” by Chloé Zhao

England, 1580. The humble William Shakespeare meets Agnes and the two, fascinated by each other, get married and soon have three children. But William pursues the theater in distant London and Agnes is alone at home. The horror of the tragedy strikes; the once steadfast couple is put to the test. In the name of the son. Hamnet, inspired by the story of William Shakespeare’s sontalks about love and abandonment, loss and reconciliation. The story, which will act as the fuse for the writing of Hamletis based on the book by Maggie O’Farrell. From February 5th to the cinema with Universal Pictures.

“Wuthering Heights” by Emerald Fennell

A bold and original reinterpretation of one of the greatest love stories of all time, Wuthering Heights by Emerald Fennell stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. Their forbidden passion transforms from romantic feeling to overwhelming obsessionin an epic story of desire, love and madness. Emerald Fennell directs and writes the screenplay, based on the famous novel Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë knowsand contributes to the production alongside Josey McNamara (Oscar® nominee and BAFTA winner) and Margot Robbie. Oscar® nominees Tom Ackerley and Sara Desmond serve as executive producers. In cinemas from February 12th with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

“Joy” by Nicolangelo Gelormini

Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known love, other than the oppressive love of her parents, with whom she still lives. Among the students of his school there is Alessio, a boy who uses his body as a tool to get a few hundred euros and help his mother, a cashier in a supermarket. A forbidden bond is born between Alessio and Gioiafragile and inexplicably necessary for both. But the desire for social and human redemption for Alessio is a silent poison that prevents him from being definitively conquered by Gioia’s disarming sweetness. Thus, he destroys everything and erases the only person who ever loved him. At the cinema from February 12th with Vision Distribution.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” by David Frankel

Almost twenty years after their iconic performances As Miranda, Andy, Emily and Nigel, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the elegant streets of New York City and the luxurious offices of Runway nell’long-awaited sequel to the 2006 film that marked a generation. The film reunites the original cast with director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, and introduces a host of new actors including Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet, BJ Novak and Conrad Ricamora. Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman reprise their roles as “Lily” and “Irv” from the first film. At the cinema from April 29th with 20th Century Studios.

“It will happen tonight” by Nanni Moretti

Nanni Moretti together with Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella wrote the screenplay of his new film based on the collection of short stories Ties di Eshkol Nevo, author much loved by the director who had already adapted Three Pianos for the big screen in 2019. Not much else is known about the details of the plot but the cast is known: Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca (who returns to be the female protagonist 25 years after her debut with Moretti in The Son’s Room), Angela Finocchiaro, Elena Lietti, Antonio De Matteo, Andrea Lattanzi, Hippolyte Girardot, Pietro Ragusa, Paolo Sassanelli, Nanni Moretti, Melina Akerman Kvie. At the cinema in 2026 with 01 Distribution.

“The Stranger” by Paolo Strippoli

An intense psychological thriller which stars Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini, Romana Maggiora Vergano and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. This is the fourth feature film by the director who declared: “L’Estranea is a family saga about the fall of an entrepreneurial family from Bari, in which The Buddenbrooks meet Faust. It’s a merciless, visceral pop tragedy. Every human being feeds on the illusion of being able to exercise real control over their life and destiny. The Stranger is an investigation into what – and who – we are willing to sacrifice to keep this illusion alive“. At the cinema in 2026 with 01 Distribution.

“White” by Daniele Vicari

In 1961, Walter Bonatti leads six of the best mountaineers of his generation in a climb that had until then been considered impossible: the Central Pillar of Frêney, the last corner of Mont Blanc left unconquered. Bianco retraces the tragic undertaking that will see only three survivors return and will leave Walter Bonatti’s courage to history. Alessandro Borghi is Walter Bonatti in the new film by Daniele Vicari, based on Frêney 1961 – The storm on Mont Blanc by Marco Albino Ferrari, one of great classics of mountain literature. The screenplay is written by Massimo Gaudioso, Francesca Manieri, Marco Albino Ferrari, Daniele Vicari. At the cinema in 2026 with 01 Distribution.

Margherita Bordino