Venice Film Festival to open

The festival's golden lion will go to the judges' first film choice

VENICE, Italy -- The cream of the film world is descending on Italy for the 59th Venice Film Festival.

Moritz de Hadeln, who ran the Berlin film festival for 22 years before taking the Venice helm, says he hopes to bring out the stars and make the festival more appealing to a wider audience when it opens on Thursday.

He said: "Media and cinema have evolved and I think today you can't just sit around and talk about cinema.

"Film is also a business and an industry and stars and actors."

"How will this festival be different? I hope there will be a bit more glamour," he confessed.

"This year we have opened the doors to all types of films."

The festival, which runs to September 8, will open with the anxiously awaited Hollywood production "Frida," starring Salma Hayek.

A number of star-studded blockbusters and European and Asian submissions will follow, as well as be small, art-house movies.

According to de Hadeln, the Venice Film Festival lost much of its luster on the global film stage due to its focus on auteur films.

But he hopes his appointment will be a break from this tradition.

The line-up includes "Road to Perdition," the latest from Oscar-winning British director Sam Mendes, and starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law, and Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven" with Julianne Moore.

A total of 21 films will vie for the coveted Golden Lion.

Among them will be a collective film titled "11'09'01," which consists of 11 separate submissions from directors including Sean Penn, Ken Loach and Amos Gitai to commemorate the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Penn, John Malkovich, Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve are all expected to be among those attending in person.