Lumière Festival 2026: opening night with “A Special Day”

The Lumière Festival 2026 opening night will take place on Saturday, October 10, at 6 p.m. at the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon, with a ceremony followed by a screening of Ettore Scola’s *A Special Day* (*Une journée particulière*). Tickets are priced at €20, or €17 for accredited guests, but sales are suspended as of October 7. Anyone hoping to attend should check for changes directly on the official opening-night page.

What will happen on opening night

The 18th edition begins with a ceremony attended by festival guests. It will be followed by Scola’s film, originally released in 1977 and listed with a 1-hour-45-minute running time. The official presentation describes an evening bringing the public together with artists and film professionals, but the material reviewed does not publish a named list of ceremony participants.

The October 10 schedule confirms the combination of opening ceremony, film, and 6 p.m. start at the Halle Tony Garnier. The event is part of a day that includes other screenings at different venues, so it should not be confused with a regular screening or with the entire Saturday film schedule.

Which version of the film will be shown

Opening night will present a restoration completed by L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna for the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome, in collaboration with Surf Film. Tamasa is identified as the distributor, and the page includes thanks to René Chateau.

Set on May 8, 1938, the film follows the encounter between a mother and her neighbor Gabriele while Rome celebrates Hitler’s visit. Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni lead the cast named by the festival. These details precisely identify the selected title without suggesting that the ceremony is the premiere of a new work.

Time, venue, and address

The event is scheduled for Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 6 p.m. local Lyon time in France. The festival gives the address as Halle Tony Garnier, 20 place Docteurs Charles et Christophe Mérieux, Lyon 7e.

The 1-hour-45-minute running time applies to the film, not the complete event. Because a ceremony will take place before the screening, the source does not support calculating an end time. The supplied pages also provide no announced duration for the opening portion.

Announced prices and suspended sales

The opening-night price is €20 for general admission and €17 for accredited guests. The organization states that accreditation costs €14 and is free for people under 26, but accreditation does not guarantee a ticket to the opening event.

The key information for prospective attendees is the current box-office status: both the event page and the festival’s official ticket page say that sales are suspended. The general ticket page also says that tickets are usually available at venues before screenings, but that broad guidance does not confirm availability for this special event. Visitors should not travel expecting a last-minute sale.

Suspension should not automatically be interpreted as cancellation or a definitive sellout, either. The sources state only that sales are suspended. Availability can change, so the official link should be checked before setting out.

Opening night is different from the regular program

The standard festival prices—€8.50, €6.50 for accredited guests, and €5 for children under 14—apply to regular screenings. They do not apply to opening night, which is classified as a special event. This distinction matters for anyone who might otherwise expect the standard rate at the Halle Tony Garnier.

*A Special Day* also appears on other dates in the Ettore Scola retrospective: October 15 at 1:45 p.m. at UGC Ciné Cité Confluence; October 17 at 11 a.m. at UGC Astoria; and October 18 at 2:30 p.m. at Pathé Bellecour. These are separate screenings with their own venues and conditions. The presence of the same film at other times does not transfer the opening event’s format, price, or sales status to them.

Ettore Scola’s place in the festival

The selection connects with the retrospective devoted to Scola, the Italian filmmaker who lived from 1931 to 2016. The program includes films he directed and works on which he served as a screenwriter. Featured titles include *We All Loved Each Other So Much*, *Ugly, Dirty and Bad*, *The Terrace*, and *Splendor*.

For viewers seeking the opening-night experience specifically, the practical distinction remains straightforward: the ceremony and film form one special event beginning at 6 p.m. For those who only want to see the film, the later screenings are scheduled alternatives, but their availability must be checked separately through the festival ticket service.