Venice Film Festival Opens With Star Lineup as Awards Race Looms

The 82nd Venice Film Festival opened Wednesday, August 27 on the Lido with a star-studded lineup and 21 films competing for the Golden Lion, offering a mix of awards-season hopefuls, high-profile premieres and politically charged entries. The five-day main competition and a packed out-of-competition slate bring Hollywood names including George Clooney and Julia Roberts to Venice, alongside auteurs such as Guillermo del Toro, Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch and Werner Herzog.

The festival will launch with Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, while Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, starring Clooney, and Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, featuring Roberts, are among the most anticipated screenings. Guillermo del Toro’s big-budget Frankenstein, Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller A House of Dynamite and Jim Jarmusch’s triptych Father Mother Sister Brother round out a program that Venice’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, called evidence of “a return to reality” in contemporary filmmaking. Herzog will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and will screen his new documentary Ghost Elephants out of competition.

Venice’s role as an early launchpad for awards contenders was underscored by...