Venice Film Festival opens with Rupert Murdoch film, George Clooney and plenty of geopolitics

Venice, Italy - George Clooney and Danny Boyle are set to open the Venice Film Festival with a bang on Wednesday. Clooney, a frequent attendee, will receive a lifetime achievement award while Boyle will premiere his film "Ink," focusing on Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of the British newspaper "The Sun" in 1969. Over the next 11 days, the festival will feature numerous Hollywood stars and beyond, from Robert Pattinson to Oasis' Noel and Liam Gallagher.

However, this year's lineup seems more preoccupied with geopolitics than star-studded events. The extensive selection includes documentaries about the Gaza conflict ("Naza"), Elon Musk ("Musk"), and independent Russian journalists covering the war in Ukraine ("My Undesirable Friends - Part II: Exile"). There are also Palestinian films and a short about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis.

Director Alberto Barbera of the festival told The Associated Press that most of the films they considered during the selection process revolved around "contemporary problems." "We didn't really see anything else," Barbera stated.