Venice Film Festival

The 64th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which by the way is the oldest film festival of the world, kicked off on Wednesday with an opening movie called "Atonement". Cinema fans, film critics, actors and directors have arrived at the opening ceremony of the 64th Venice film festival, turning the event into a movie carnival. The event will go on until September 8th. The festival is famous for red carpet glamour and late night parties on the canals of Venice.

At this year's opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festival, hundreds of movie fans waited and screamed, just for a glimpse of their favorite stars. The festival has been a highlight of the city's culture for 75 years. Although it's the 64th anniversary of the festival, it is the 75th anniversary of the first event, wich took place in the lawn of the Lido's nearby Hotel Excelsior in 1932, and presenters used the occasion to look back at the past three quarters of a century.

Opening the 11-day festival was "Atonement", the screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel. Most of the cast of 'Atonement', including Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, were present during the screening.

Two-time Golden Lion-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou chairs the seven-member jury this year. The other members of the main jury --Catherine Breillat (France), Jane Campion (New Zealand), Paul Verhoeven (Dutch), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Mexico), Ferzan Ozpetek (Turkish) and Emanuele Crialese (Italy) -- were introduced to the crowd in the packed Palazzo along with the members of the juries for the main two sidebars.

The annual festival is considered to be both a key showcase of art house cinema and an early marker for the Oscars in February. Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" won the Golden Lion for best film in 2005, and went on to garner eight Oscar nominations. A long list of stars expected to attend this year will be hoping to generate a similar early buzz.