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Venice Film Festival kicks off with opening ceremony

Dunya News

Venice Film Festival opened with premiere of Mira Nair's thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

The 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival got under way on Wednesday (August 29) evening with a gala ceremony and a screening of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, marking the 80th anniversary of the worlds oldest film festival.This is the 80th birthday of the Venice Film Festival. In 1932, the first festival took place in open air on the terrace of the Excelsior hotel. How to celebrate the 80th birthday? Well, above all, by remembering the founders. And then, we also celebrate with Alberto (Barbera), with the return of Alberto. And we celebrate with a series of initiatives for the future, said Paolo Baratta, President of the Venice Biennale, as he welcomed guests at the opening ceremony.Alberto Barbera takes over as artistic director after the departure of Marco Mueller, and he will have his work cut out to ensure that Venice remains one of the top three film festivals in the world amid growing competition from Toronto and beyond.Directed by Mira Nair, the opening film The Reluctant Fundamentalist screened out of competition and is based on a novel of the same name which traces a young Pakistani mans journey from Wall Street high flyer to suspected Islamist radical targeted by American intelligence.The film festivals competition line-up of 18 movies has won early praise from critics, and Venice has also launched a small market where producers and distributors can buy and sell titles and so make the notoriously expensive trip more commercially attractive.U.S. Director Michael Mann heads a jury including actresses Samantha Morton and Laetitia Casta and Hong Kong director Peter Chan, who will be deciding the winners of this years top prizes.On behalf of all of us I want to thank you for the honour of being invited to participate as jurors in this revered and historical, and at the same time very new and exciting Venice Film Festival. Thank you very much, Mann said.The smaller number of A-list stars at the event this year is a concern among some festival-goers, although Barbera hopes that a new generation of up-and-coming acting talents, including Zac Efron and Selena Gomez, will provide the kind of buzz on which festivals thrive.The older generation will be represented by Robert Redford and Julie Christie, while Rachel McAdams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and the unpredictable Joaquin Phoenix also are expected.One of the most talked-about movies over the next 11 days is likely to be The Master, Paul Thomas Andersons story about a religious cult bearing similarities to Scientology.