YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday in the northeastern Italian city of Venice on the lagoon, where the red carpet was full of cinema stars.

The jury for the main competition is presided by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose movie The Shape of Water won four Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture, as well as the top prize at Venice, or the Golden Lion.

The main contenders this year at the 75th annual Venice Film Festival include Doubles Vies (Double Lives) by Olivier Assayas, starring Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet, Damien Chazelle's First Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Roma by Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by the Coen Brothers, and At Eternity's Gate, by painter and director Julian Schnabel, starring Willem Dafoe and Emmanuelle Seigner.

The American production "First Man" by director Damien Chazelle opened the 75th Venice International Film Festival on 29th August. The film refers to the moon landing of the Apollo 11 in 1969.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan