The 81st edition of the Venice Film
Festival opens on Wednesday with Tim Burton's Beetlejuice,
Beetlejuice, the long awaited sequel to the director's cult 1988
fantasy horror comedy.
The director is accompanied by his partner, actress Monica
Bellucci, and the protagonist Michael Keaton, the title's
charismatic exorcist, Winona Ryder, Willem Defoe and Jenna
Ortega.
The follow-up is Out of Competition at the world's oldest film
fest.
This year's edition packed with Hollywood stars, which wraps up
on September 7, will also present Sigourney Weaver with a Golden
Lion for lifetime achievement.
Even stars without a film to be presented at the festival, like
Richard Gere, will be in the lagoon city to attend events
including the amfAR charity at the Nicelli airport on
September1.
Oprah Winfrey will be Diane Von Furstenberg's guest at the
Arsenale on August 29.
Venice is also hosting prominent Italian actors and directors
including Valerio Mastandrea, Barbara Ronchi, Luca Marinelli,
Alessandro Borghi, Nanni Moretti, Elio Germano, Toni Servillo,
Fabrizio Gifuni, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino and
Francesco Di Leva, to name a few.
Italian movies in competition are Gianni Amelio's Battlefield;
Maura Delpero's Vermiglio; Iddu by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio
Piazza with Toni Servillo and Elio Germano; Luca Guadagnino's
Queer starring Daniel Craig; and Giulia Steigerwalt's Diva
Futura.
Among the most highly anticipated stars at this year's festival
are Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix (September 4), and the duo
George Clooney - Brad Pitt for Wolfs (Sunday, September 1) with
Pitt's ex-wife Angelina Jolie starring in Pablo Larrain's Maria
(on August 29) on the last days of Maria Callas's exile in
Paris.
Leading actors to feature at the film extravaganza also include
Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton for Pedro Almodovar (on
September 2), Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline for Disclaimer, the
TV series by Alfonso Cuaron (August 29-30), Nicole Kidman for
Babygirl by Halina Reijn (on August 30) with Antonio Banderas
and a previously unseen Daniel Craig for Luca Guadagnino's Queer
(September 3).
For France, Camille Cottin will star in Trois Amies on August
30.
August 31 will feature the screening of The Order, a film in
competition with Jude Law and Tye Sheridan.
Along with the couple Clooney-Pitt, Adrien Brody will also be
in Venice on September 1 for The Brutalist by Brady Corbet and
Vincent Lindon on September 4 for The Quiet Son.
The ceremony to present the prizes awarded by the jury chaired
by Isabelle Hupper will wrap up with Orto americano by Pupi
Avati, Out of Competition and Horizon: An Americal Saga Chapter
1 and 2 with Kevin Costner and Sienna Miller.
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