Everything you need to know about the Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are heading to Venice, Italy, for the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday.

Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know about the festival, the Oscar buzz and who’s going.

It’s one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, second only to Cannes, and technically the oldest. Venice is also a reliably starry affair, gathering some of the best films in international cinema and often factoring into the Oscars race.

The film festival was established in 1932, then a non-competitive event, by the La Biennale di Venezia, hosting films like “Grand Hotel” and “It Happened One Night.” By 1935, they decided to make it an annual event. Suspicions that the festival was succumbing to fascist influences actually led to the establishment of the Cannes Film Festival, as an alternative, after the 1938 edition.

The Golden Lion award as we know it today wouldn’t be introduced until 1949 (“Rashômon” won in 1951). Other winners throughout history include “Belle de jour” (1967), “Au revoir les enfants” (1987), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Somewhere” (2010), “Poor Things” (2023) and, last year, “The Room Next Door.”

The festival kicks off on Wednesday and runs through Sept. 6, when the awards will be announced. The opening night film is Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia.”

Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Emma Stone, Dwayne Johnson, Adam Sandler and Idris Elba are among the stars expected to grace the red carpets this year. It’ll be the first time at the festival for both Roberts, starring in the #MeToo-themed drama “After the Hunt,” and Johnson, who transformed for his role as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine.”

Other stars in the lineup include Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Jesse Plemons, Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Amanda Seyfried, Callum Turner and Jude Law. Lifetime achievement award recipients this year include “Vertigo” star Kim Novak and filmmaker Werner Herzog.

After taking a year off, Netflix, still on the hunt for a best picture win, is back in full force with three major films in the main competition: Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller “A House of Dynamite,” and Noah Baumbach’s comedic drama “Jay Kelly.” Also in competition are: Kaouther ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab”; Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” with Emma Stone; Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine”; Jim Jarmusch’s anthology film “Father Mother Sister Brother”; Mona Fastvold’s musical about the Shakers, “The Testament of Ann Lee”; Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice”; and Olivier Assayas’s “The Wizard of the Kremlin.”

The buzz is strong for several out-of-competition films too, like Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt,” Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire,” Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hand of Dante” and Sofia Coppola’s Marc Jacobs documentary “Marc by Sofia.”

Festival director Alberto Barbera thinks Venice’s place in the Oscar race was solidified in 2012, when they hosted the premiere of “Gravity,” which went on to win a leading seven Oscars that March and established Venice as a place to launch a campaign. It’s only intensified as the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gotten more international. Since 2014, they’ve hosted four best picture winners (“Birdman,” “Spotlight,” “The Shape of Water” and “Nomadland”).

Last year, the festival had several eventual Oscar-winning films in the lineup, including Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which won three including best actor for Adrien Brody, Walter Salles’ best international feature winner “I’m Still Here,” and the animated short “In the Shadow of the Cypress.”

When people think of Venice, they usually think of landmarks like the Rialto bridge and St. Mark’s Square. The festival actually takes place on a different island, a nearly 7-mile (11-kilometer) barrier island called the Lido, which is about a 20-minute ferry (vaporetto) ride away.

A military outpost in the 12th century, it transformed into a seaside resort, a favorite of European aristocrats, by the end of the 19th.

On the Lido, the only five-star hotel is the Hotel Excelsior, which dates back to 1908 and is where Quentin Tarantino has stayed. But rooms go quickly, and there are so many luxury hotels on the different islands that offer a bit more privacy, away from the frenzy of the festival and photographers.

Perhaps the most famous of the bunch is the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, on Giudecca, home of one of Clooney’s favorite bars. There’s the Hotel Danieli, which has been featured in films like “Moonraker” and “Casino Royale,” and regularly hosts kickoff parties for the festival. Another favorite is the Gritti Palace, where everyone from Brad Pitt to Elizabeth Taylor has stayed. There’s also a St. Regis and the Aman Venice, where George and Amal Clooney were married.

The scattered hotels are also the reason you see so many celebrities photographed on the Excelsior docks: They arrive to the festival, including press conferences and premieres, by private water taxi. Sometimes, they’re transported a very short distance from the Excelsior to the red carpet in cars. Unlike the main island of Venice, vehicles are allowed on the Lido, including buses and private cars. But many festivalgoers prefer to rent a bike to get around.

“Nebraska” filmmaker Alexander Payne is presiding over the main competition jury, which includes Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, French director Stéphane Brizé, Italian director Maura Delpero, Chinese actor Zhao Tao and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu. The award winners will be announced on Sept. 6.

For ongoing coverage of the 2025 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

The red carpet is seen ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

A view of the main cinema ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Film posters outside the Excelsior hotel ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

FILE - George Clooney arrives in Venice, Italy on a taxi boat for the 65th Venice Film Festival, Tuesday Aug. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “All options remain on the table for the president.”

Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The sound of gunfire faded Thursday in the capital, Tehran. The country closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.

Here is the latest:

Masih Alinejad, one of the most vocal Iranian dissidents in the U.S., accused the United Nations and the Security Council of failing “to respond with the urgency this moment demands” at the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday.

In October, two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hitman to kill Alinejad at her Brooklyn home on behalf of the Iranian government.

Sitting across the table from the Iranian ambassador to the U.N., Alinejad, who came after an invitation from the U.S., said that “the members of this body have forgotten the privilege and responsibility of sitting in this room.”

Ahead of the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Secretary-General António Guterres

spoke by phone to discuss the recent deadly protests and Iran’s request for the world body to do more to condemn what they call foreign influence in the Islamic Republic, according to a readout of the call posted on Iranian state TV.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that Araghchi implored the top U.N. official to live up to the “serious expectation” that Iran’s government and its people have of the U.N.s’ role in condemning what the officials called “illegal U.S. interventions against Iran.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that U.S. President Donald Trump and his team had communicated to Iranian officials that there would be “grave consequences” if killing continues against protesters in Iran.

“The president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday, were halted,” she said.

But Trump continues closely watching the situation, she said.

“All options remain on the table for the president,” Leavitt said.

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said on Thursday that “criminal gangs” were responsible for the situation in Iran, accusing them of carrying out an “American-Israeli” scheme.

“Criminal gangs in Iran killed Iranian citizens, security forces and burned mosques,” he said without providing evidence. “What’s being committed by criminal gangs in Iran is horrific, bearing an American stamp as it includes slaughter and burning some people alive.”

He also said that the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Iran to create a crisis leading to the current issues in the country with the end goal of controlling Iran.

Yet he said the U.S. has “failed in Iran” and that Iranians “will not yield to America.”

The president of the European Union’s executive arm says the 27-member bloc is looking to strengthen sanctions against Iran as ordinary Iranians continue their protests against Iran’s theocratic government.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday following a meeting of the EU’s commissioners in Limassol, Cyprus that current sanctions against Iran are “weakening the regime.”

Von der Leyen said that the EU is looking to sanction individual Iranians —apart from those who belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard — who “are responsible for the atrocities.”

She added that the people of Iran who are “bravely fighting for a change” have the EU’s “full political support.”

Canada’s foreign minister says a Canadian citizen has died in Iran “at the hands of the Iranian authorities.”

“Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations — has led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on social media Thursday.

“This violence must end. Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence,” she added.

Anand said consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family in Canada. She did not provide details.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced Thursday that a local staff member was killed and several others were wounded during the deadly protests in Iran over the weekend.

Amir Ali Latifi, an Iranian Red Crescent Society worker, was working in the country’s Gillan province on Jan. 10 when he was killed “in the line of duty,” the organization said in a statement.

“The IFRC is deeply concerned about the consequences of the ongoing unrest on the people of Iran and is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” the statement continued.

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed as “good news” reports that the death sentence has been lifted for an Iranian shopkeeper arrested in a violent crackdown on protests.

Relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani had said he faced imminent execution.

Trump posed Thursday on his Truth Social site: “FoxNews: ‘Iranian protester will no longer be sentenced to death after President Trump’s warnings. Likewise others.’ This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”

Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.

Trump sent tensions soaring this week by pledging that “help is on its way” to Iranian protesters and urging them to continue demonstrating against authorities in the Islamic Republic.

On Wednesday Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying he had been told that “the killing in Iran is stopping.”

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union’s main foreign policy chief said the G7 members were “gravely concerned” by the developments surrounding the protests, and that they “strongly oppose the intensification of the Iranian authorities’ brutal repression of the Iranian people.”

The statement, published on the EU’s website Thursday, said the G7 were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and condemned “the deliberate use of violence” by Iranian security forces against protesters.

The G7 members “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement said.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.

“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.

“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”

“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”

Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.

Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.

Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.

Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.

Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,

Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.

“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.

Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.

Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.

The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.

Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.

Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.

State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.

“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.

“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.

Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.

Women cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)