Venice Welcomes Julia Roberts, George Clooney To Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, rolling out the red carpet for Julia Roberts and George Clooney in a flurry of worldwide premieres at the glitzy celebration on the sandy Lido.

A cavalcade of A-listers -- from Jude Law to Emma Stone -- will arrive by water taxi for the festival opening, drawing hundreds of fans hoping to glimpse the stars.

Among 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, will serve up big budget films -- 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, debate has already begun over the Gaza war, with a protest planned Saturday on the Lido.

A collective of Italian film professionals, Venice4Palestine, called Sunday for the festival to take a "clear stance" and support artist actions against Israel's tactics in the war set off by the 2023 Hamas attacks.

"In Venice, all the spotlight will be on the world of cinema, and we all have a duty to make known the stories and voices of those who are being massacred, even with the complicit indifference of the West," read an open letter signed by directors and actors including Matteo Garrone and Alice Rohrwacher.

The group called for the festival to disinvite actors Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot -- appearing in Julian Schnabel's "In the Hand of Dante" -- who it said "ideologically and materially" support Israeli's actions.

In response, the festival said it had always been a place "of open debate", and cited the inclusion this year of Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania's latest film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", 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.

Another film that could hit close to the bone as the war in Ukraine drags on is Olivier Assayas's "The Wizard of the Kremlin", in which Law portrays Russian President Vladimir Putin during his ascent to power.

Hollywood megastar Roberts will make 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 plays his manager.

Several winners at Venice, such as "Nomadland" and "Joker", have subsequently gone on to Oscar glory, making the Italian festival a key launch 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 this year's jury, tasked with awarding the Golden Lion best film to one of the 21 main competition contenders on September 6.

Offerings from 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 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.

Fellow American 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; former Golden Lion winner Laura Poitras' film about US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh; and a profile of late British singer Marianne Faithfull from Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth.