The Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday with Hollywood royalty arriving for Italy's glitzy movie showcase where a strong line up of star-packed films will vie with protests about the Gaza war for public attention.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney are some of the biggest names at the 82nd edition of the world's longest-running festival, with top directors from Kathryn Bigelow to Jim Jarmusch all due on the sandy Lido across the Venice lagoon.

The main event in Wednesday evening's opening ceremony was Francis Ford Coppola awarding a Lifetime Achievement award to German director Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man", "Fitzcarraldo") for his canon of more than 70 films.

Herzog, who said he always searched for the "sublime" in his films, will showcase his latest documentary, "Ghost Elephants", about a lost herd in Angola, on Thursday.

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino's "La Grazia" -- about an Italian president grappling with doubts over whether to sign a euthanasia bill into law -- was the first main in-competition movie presented on Wednesday.

"Dwelling on doubt........

© Al Monitor