The Venice Film Festival is set to dazzle with one of its most star-studded lineups yet. Celebrities like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix, and Lady Gaga are all expected to grace the Lido.

Running from August 28 to September 7, the festival’s 81st edition promises a return to its glamorous roots after last year’s hiatus due to Hollywood strikes. Competing for the prestigious Golden Lion is “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the sequel to Todd Phillips’ 2019 Golden Lion-winning “Joker.” Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role, with Lady Gaga joining as Harley Quinn. The film also features Brendan Gleeson, Zazie Beetz, and Catherine Keener.

dalbera from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Other notable contenders include Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig, Lesley Manville, and Jason Schwartzman; Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” with Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Joe Alwyn; and Justin Kurzel’s “The Order,” featuring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, and Tye Sheridan.

Angelina Jolie stars as opera diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s biopic “Maria,” written by Steven Knight, alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee and Pierfrancesco Favino. Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut “The Room Next Door” stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, while Halina Reijn’s thriller “Babygirl” features Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, and Jean Reno.

Out of competition, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the sequel to his 1988 hit, stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, and Monica Bellucci. Brad Pitt and George Clooney appear in Jon Watts’ action drama “Wolfs,” and legendary director Takeshi Kitano’s “Broken Rage” is also set to screen.

Documentaries include Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ “One to One: John & Yoko,” Alex Ross Perry’s “Pavements,” and Asif Kapadia’s “2073,” featuring Samantha Morton and Naomi Ackie. Göran Hugo Olsson’s “Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989” examines Swedish public broadcasters’ coverage of the Middle East crisis.

Premiering TV series include Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ show “Disclaimer,” starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Lesley Manville, as well as Joe Wright’s “M. Son of the Century,” the Danish series “Families Like Ours,” and the Latin American series “Los Años Nuevos.”

Festival director Alberto Barbera highlighted the inclusion of these series as part of a broader reflection on the evolving nature of cinematic works. The Horizons Extra category features Tim Fehlbaum’s “September 5,” a drama about the 1972 Munich Olympics starring Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin.

This year’s competition jury is led by French actor Isabelle Huppert, with directors James Gray and Andrew Haigh among the jurors.