This may be the 79th edition, but the Venice Film Festival, founded in August 1932, is celebrating its 90th birthday this year.

From 31 August to 10 September, the traditional red carpet will be trodden by countless stars, under the admiring (but also judgemental) gaze of the entire world.

Not least the casts of the five Italian films competing for the prestigious Golden Lion: Il signore delle formiche, starring Luigi Lo Cascio and Elio Germano, Luca Guadagnino’s new film Bones and All with Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet and Mark Rylance, L’immensità with Penelope Cruz; Chiara, starring Margherita Mazzucco as the saint and follower of St Francis of Assisi, and Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica.

Not forgetting Siccità, Paolo Virzì ’s drama with Claudia Pandolfi, Silvio Orlando, Valerio Mastandrea and Monica Bellucci, which will be screened in the Fuori Concorso section.

Kicking off the festival is Noah Baumbach’s White Noise starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, a Netflix title, as is the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, with a heart-rending performance by Ana de Armas (the former girlfriend of the now unattainable Ben Affleck). Hugh Jackman will grace the red carpet at the Lido for The Son by Florian Zeller, the director who brought us The Father. The latter earned an Oscar for Anthony Hopkins, who returns in this feature film alongside Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby. Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett plays a seductive orchestra conductor in Todd Field’s Tár.

Expectation is also high for No Bears, the latest film shot secretly by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has officially been under house arrest for several years.

The Fuori Concorso section also includes Don’t Worry Darling, the scandal-ridden movie directed by and featuring Olivia Wilde, here on set with her new love, singer Harry Styles; Oliver Stone’s controversial documentary Nuclear; The Kingdom – Exodus, the new series by Lars Von Trier, and Sally Potter’s short film Look at Me, starring Javier Bardem and Chris Rock (that’s right, he of the Oscars scene with Will Smith).

Last but not least, the fabulous Rocío Muñoz Morales is hosting events, and the international jury is headed by the great Julianne Moore, while Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement go to Catherine Deneuve and director Paul Schrader.

Photo credits:
Bones and All, White Noise, Blonde: Netflix
L’immensità: Angelo Turetta
Don’t Worry Darling: Warner Media