Casey Affleck Returns to the Director's Chair With 'Company,' a Gothic Three-Generational Saga Premiering at Venice
Casey Affleck's third directorial feature, Company, screens today at the 83rd Venice Film Festival as an official competition entry, marking his first film behind the camera since 2019's Light of My Life (Deadline).
The film unfurls a Gothic-infused mystery across three timelines spanning the 20th century, divided into three parts centred on human connection (Hollywood Reporter; Deadline). Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Ron Hansen, whose previous screenwriting credit includes The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — the 2007 film that also starred Affleck's brother, Brad Pitt, and was directed by Andrew Dominik.
The first act opens at a Christmas party in 1975, where a mysterious woman named Evelyn arrives uninvited and tells the story of Tom, an ageing man, to a rapt crowd (Biennale; Deadline). Emily Alyn Lind plays Evelyn. The story then shifts to a rural snowy cabin in 1953 in the Colorado mountains, where a hermit named Tom rescues Alice from the frozen snow. Caylee Cowan plays Alice. Nick Nolte, long rumoured to play Tom, is listed among the main cast by the Biennale's official page (Biennale).
The third act is set circa 1903. A drifter named Caleb is found unconscious in the snow and taken in by a couple, Rebecca and Emmett, amid stories of a series of deaths whose victims' hearts were taken (Deadline). Adelaide Clemens plays Rebecca; Scott McNairy plays Emmett; Atticus Affleck plays Caleb. Ben Mendelsohn and Indiana Affleck round out the principal cast as listed by the festival (Biennale).
One detail that catches the eye: Company had eight credited cinematographers (Deadline). That is an unusually large number for a single feature, and it suggests the film's three distinct timelines each received their own visual treatment rather than a unified look across the whole picture.
The festival's official synopsis describes the film as beginning on a winter night in 1975, and the Hartford Courant calls it a meditation on grief and compassion with a gothic element (Courant). A Canada/USA production, Company is scheduled to screen on 8 September 2026 during the festival's Venezia 83 competition lineup (Biennale).
The 83rd Venice Film Festival, running as part of the 2026 Biennale Cinema, is one of the three major competitive film festivals in the world, alongside Cannes and Berlin. Its competition lineup is where films compete for the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize. Whether Company picks up hardware or secures distribution at the festival remains to be seen — but for Affleck, who won an Academy Award for acting in Manchester by the Sea in 2017, the film marks a return to directing after a seven-year gap.
Company has no announced theatrical or streaming release date yet.
