Venice is ready to roll out the red carpet for its annual cinema showcase.
In its 69th edition the festival is hoping that movies tackling everything from sex to Scientology will help build the buzz it needs to stay ahead of a growing field of rivals.
Some festival-goers are worried that the world's oldest film festival is showing its age.
(SOUNDBITE) Giovanna Nordio, festival-goer, saying (Italian):
"Let's hope there will be something new and original because we are fed up seeing the same old things."
(SOUNDBITE) Roberta Zoppe, festival-goer, saying (Italian):
"This year the venue looks great and I love it. As for the crisis, I think people will come anyway because Venice is the one and only, it's the number one."
Venice has been facing stiff competition from the overlapping Toronto and more recently the newly introduced Rome festival.
George Clooney, one of its regulars, for instance won't be attending this year.
However some of Hollywood's younger talent will be in town, and thanks to large-scale venue renovations the lido front has a decisively polished look.
And film critics say we can still expect plenty of steam over the next two weeks (August 29-September 8) thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" about a religious cult and Brian De Palma's revenge thriller "Passion", starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.
