Sawt Falasteen - Venice welcomes Julia Roberts, George Clooney to film festival

A cavalcade of cinema A-listers will arrive by water taxi to Venice's seaside resort for the festival beginning Wednesday, from Jude Law to Emma Stone, drawing hundreds of fans hoping for a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Among the acclaimed directors at the festival's 82nd edition are Werner Herzog, Jim Jarmusch, Kathryn Bigelow, Gus Van Sant and Park Chan-wook, who returns to the festival after 20 years.

Venice, a highlight of the international film circuit, serves up both big budget films with box-office potential -- such as Benny Safdie's "The Smashing Machine" starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as an ageing wrestler -- and smaller independent works.

Despite the glamorous backdrop, some of the films lined up which are more focused on current events are likely to provoke debate.

As the war in Ukraine goes on, Law portrays Russian President Vladimir Putin during his ascent to power in Olivier Assayas's "The Wizard of the Kremlin".

And filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania's latest film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", is set in Gaza.

It tells the true story of a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in January 2024 by Israeli forces alongside six family members while trying to flee Gaza City.

It uses the real audio recording of Hind pleading for help to emergency services.

- Launchpad to Oscars -

Hollywood megastar Roberts will be making her Venice debut Friday in Luca Guadagnino's "After the Hunt" about a sexual assault case at a prestigious American university. The film is playing out of competition.

After delighting Venice fans from the red carpet last year, Clooney returns to star in the Netflix-produced "Jay Kelly" from Noah Baumbach, playing a beloved actor facing an identity crisis. Adam Sandler takes a supporting role as his manager.

Several winners at Venice, such as "Nomadland" and "Joker", have subsequently gone on to Oscar glory, making the Italian festival a key launching pad for cinema success.

Streaming titles from Netflix and Amazon have also increasingly chosen the event for their worldwide debuts.

Two-time Oscar winner and "Sideways" director Alexander Payne heads the jury this year, tasked with awarding the Golden Lion best film to one of 21 contenders in the main competition on September 6.

- Aliens, Frankenstein -

New offerings from directors Assayas, Guillermo del Toro, Yorgos Lanthimos and Kathryn Bigelow are vying for the top prize at the festival, which opens Wednesday evening with a love story from Venice regular Paolo Sorrentino.

Sorrentino, best known for "La Grande Belleza" ("The Great Beauty"), has teamed up again with longtime collaborator Toni Servillo for "La Grazia", set in their native Italy.

Greece's Lanthimos and Stone -- who worked together on the Oscar-winning "Poor Things" -- reunite again for sci-fi "Bugonia" about a high-powered executive kidnapped by people who think she is an alien.

"Frankenstein" is a big-budget interpretation of the cinema classic from Mexico's del Toro, starring Oscar Isaac.

The latest from Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty", "The Hurt Locker") is "A House of Dynamite", a political thriller starring Idris Elba. Both films are to be streamed on Netflix.

Fellow American director Jarmusch makes his debut in the main Venice lineup with "Father, Mother, Sister, Brother", which he has called "a funny and sad film" starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Jarmusch regular Tom Waits.

Included in the main competition is also the latest documentary from Italy's Gianfranco Rosi, "Sotto le Nuvole" ("Below the Clouds"), a black-and-white ode to Naples.

Out-of-competition documentaries include Sofia Coppola's profile of fashion designer Marc Jacobs; the latest from former Golden Lion winner Laura Poitras about veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh; and a profile of British singer Marianne Faithfull from filmmaking team Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST