For a film festival Venice appears to tick all the boxes.
But the world's oldest such event is fighting to keep its head above water.
It's opening with plenty of star power with the world premiere of 3D space fantasy "Gravity", featuring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.
Artistic director Alberto Barbera says it's not just Hollywood that made this year's line up strong.
SOUNDBITE Venice Film Festival Artistic Director, Alberto Barbera, saying (English):
"It's a very various and articulated program this year with big Hollywood films like the opening one which is a really strong film. On the opposite we have some of the most radical forms of expression of film makers that are beyond the conventional cinema or the classic cinema that we are used to seeing in the first century of the life of the cinema."
English-language titles dominate the list of 20 competing for this year's Golden Lion.
James Franco's adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel "Ch
