Trending 
Hollywood icon Julia Roberts is set to make her inaugural appearance at the Venice Film Festival this year, joining a prestigious lineup that also includes Jude Law portraying Vladimir Putin and a powerful new film about the conflict in Gaza.
The highly anticipated festival will run from August 27 to September 9.
Roberts will attend the premiere of her latest Amazon production, “After the Hunt,” directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.
The movie, which addresses a sexual assault case at an American university, will screen outside the main competition.
Festival director Alberto Barbera expressed his excitement, noting it’s a first for Roberts to grace the Venice red carpet.
The main competition, where 21 films will vie for the coveted Golden Lion, boasts several star-studded productions.
Notably, Olivier Assayas’s “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” an adaptation of a bestseller about Putin’s rise, features British actor Jude Law in the lead role, a part he described as “an Everest to climb.”
Other prominent films competing for the Golden Lion include Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller “A House of Dynamite” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother,” starring Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson takes on the lead in Benny Safdie’s wrestling drama “The Smashing Machine,” with Emily Blunt delivering a “memorable performance” as his wife. Guillermo del Toro’s new interpretation of “Frankenstein,” produced by Netflix, is also in the running.
American director Noah Baumbach returns with the comedy “Jay Kelly,” co-written with Greta Gerwig, featuring George Clooney in a role about an identity crisis.
Gaza Film and Other Highlights
Adding a significant political dimension, the festival will feature “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a film by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania.
This highly anticipated feature reconstructs the tragic death of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City in January 2024.
The case, which garnered international outrage, involved Rajab’s desperate phone calls to rescuers after her family’s car came under attack, leaving her the sole survivor before she and two Red Crescent workers were later found dead. Barbera anticipates the film will have a profound impact and hopes it avoids controversy.
Beyond the competition, American director Gus Van Sant will debut his first film since 2018, “Dead Man’s Wire,” out of competition. Legendary German director Werner Herzog will present his latest documentary, “Ghost Elephants,” and will be honoured with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Additionally, Sofia Coppola’s documentary on fashion designer Marc Jacobs will premiere, while a film about veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh, titled “Cover Up,” is also slated.
The main competition jury for the 82nd edition of the festival will be led by renowned US film director Alexander Payne, known for “Sideways” and “The Descendants.”
