Stars line up for Venice

2004-08-30 13:17

Rome - Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will open the 61st Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday, heralding a fortnight of star-studded action along the Venice Lido.

Autograph hunters are set for a field day, with John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Meryl Steep, Jon Voight just a few of the big-name stars set to sweep into the Lido on the canal city's luxury launches.

Hollywood is coming to back the biggest selection of American films ever at the festival, 20 in all, as new festival director Marco Muller seeks to inject some of the glamour exploited so stylishly by the Cannes festival.

"There have never been so many American films in Venice. This kind of cinema is represented by films which surprise, and which manage to be innovative and personal at the same time," said Muller, admitting he's stolen some of the magic formula from the Mostra's classier cousin on the French Riviera.

"It's a mixture of a festival of contemporary art, a festival as spectacle with a hint of the unusual, and a festival of discovery.

"This mix was used for a long time with success by the Cannes festival and we've tried to copy it," Muller said.

Films in competition

The 21 films in competition include US director Jonathan Glazer's Birth, Mira Nair's new film Vanity Fair and Wim Wenders' Land of Plenty.

Birth, in which Nicole Kidman plays a woman convinced that a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband, teams the Australian actress with one of the divas of Hollywood's golden age, Lauren Bacall.

Kidman is due to attend the event on September 7, a few days after Cruise swings through to promote his latest film, Michael Mann's Collateral on September 3.

Other big name directors vying for the prestigious Golden Lion award at the world's oldest film festival are Nair, with Vanity Fair and Wenders, whose Land of Plenty focuses on post-September 11 America.

Half of the films in competition are from Europe - three Italians, three French as well as one each from Britain, Spain, Germany, Greece, Russia and Switzerland.

Muller, who directed the Locarno festival in Switzerland from 1991-2000 before taking over the reins at Venice only last March, says he wants to make the festival more accessible to younger filmgoers.

For that reason, Muller is launching a new Mezzanotte (midnight) section, which promises "high impact spectaculars".

- AFP