The Reluctant Fundamentalist at Venice film fair

The Venice film festival kicks off on Wednesday with the arrival of stars on water taxis for an art-house dominated line-up dealing with issues from religious extremism to economic crisis.First up at the worlds oldest film festival will be a showing of Mira Nairs The Reluctant Fundamentalist -- a political thriller about a young Pakistani man torn between Wall Street ambitions and the call of his homeland.Among the most keenly awaited premieres are Terrence Malicks To the Wonder -- a complex love story starring Ben Affleck -- and Robert Redfords The Company You Keep with himself as a former Weather Underground militant.One of the 18 films vying for the Golden Lion prize will be Paul Thomas Andersons The Master with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a character resembling Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard -- a movie bound to raise controversy.Music is also on the menu with Spike Lees hotly anticipated Bad 25 documentary about pop icon Michael Jackson and Jonathan Demme of The Silence of the Lambs fame with his homage to Neapolitan crooner Enzo Avitabile.Luxury yachts could be seen moored in some of the most picturesque corners of Venice ready to host festival parties and singing gondoliers were being kept busy plying the waterways with Hollywood veterans and up-and-coming auteurs.Alongside US stars like director Brian De Palma and actresses Kate Hudson, Selena Gomez and Winona Ryder, there are also famous Asian directors Takeshi Kitano of Japan (Outrage Beyond) and Kim Ki-duk of South Korea (Pieta).The first edition of the festival was held back in 1932 on the terrace of the glamorous Excelsior Hotel on the Venice Lido and featured movies by some of the best known directors of the time like Frank Capra and Howard Hawks.This years festival, which runs until September 8, will project a total of 52 films including 21 by women directors -- in contrast with the Cannes festival this year which featured no women directors for films in competition.The Venice jury this year is headed up by US director, screenwriter and producer Michael Mann and includes French model and actress Laetitia Casta, British actress Samantha Norton and Hong Kong director Peter Chan.Festival director Alberto Barbera spoke proudly of the modernisation of some of the festivals ageing infrastructure and stressed that the aim for organisers had been to steer clear of creating a catwalk for celebrities.Festivals should revert to their original roles of exploration, of scoping out innovation, instead of relying only on established producers, he said.Barbera said he had taken risks with a mix of established directors and many unknown young directors from countries without cinematic traditions.Among the newcomers is Haifaa al-Mansour from Saudi Arabia -- where cinemas are banned and women face sweeping daily discrimination -- with her film Wadjda about a little girl desperate for a bicycle which she is not allowed.Going back into Hollywood lore, the festival will also feature reclusive Oscar-winner Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) and a new directors cut of his epic WesternHeavens Gate -- one of the biggest movie flops of all time.On a more contemporary note is Ibrahim El Batouts Winter of Discontent -- a feature film which was shot in part during last years demonstrations in Cairos Tahrir Square that ultimately unseated veteran president Hosni Mubarak.The films protagonists are a political activist, a journalist and a state security officer whose lives entwine in the middle of the revolution.Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa will also bring to Venice her first film -- the documentary It Was Better Tomorrow about a woman struggling to change her life in the middle of the turmoil of the Tunisian revolution.Among other women directors taking part in the festival will be Algerias Djamila Sahraoui, Argentinas Jazmin Lopez and US-born Rama Burshtein.Barbera said: Maybe this is a sign that something is finally changing in the world of cinema, which as we all know is very sexist.