Pitt, Clooney open Venice with Coen bros' satire

U.S. actor Brad Pitt arrives with his children Maddox (L) and Pax at the airport in Venice August 26, 2008. The 65th Venice Film Festival will take place from August 27 to September 6, 2008. [Agencies]

"Burn After Reading" is not in competition, but reaction in Venice will indicate whether Joel and Ethan Coen can repeat their success of 2008 when "No Country For Old Men" won four Academy Awards including best picture and director.

The festival, held on the Lido island just across the water from the canal city, is increasingly seen as an early barometer of Oscar glory, and recently helped launch the award campaigns of films such as "The Queen" and "Brokeback Mountain."

"Burn After Reading" is a black comedy that follows two gym employees seeking to sell a computer disc containing memoirs of a sacked CIA analyst, but events quickly spiral out of control.

U.S. films in competition in Venice include "Rachel Getting Married," directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme and starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger, who has been nominated three times for an Academy Award.

Kathryn Bigelow directs Iraqi drama "The Hurt Locker," a year after Brian De Palma's "Redacted" stunned audiences in Venice with its brutal reconstruction of real-life events from the war.

Mickey Rourke stars in Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" while acclaimed Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga makes his directorial debut with "The Burning Plain" starring Oscar-winners Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

Japan has three main competition entries, led by revered animation director Hayao Miyazaki whose "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is already storming the box office at home.

Joining it will be Mamoru Oshii's animated "The Sky Crawlers," while Takeshi Kitano, who won the Golden Lion in 1997, presents "Achilles and the Tortoise."

Out of competition, Matt Tyrnauer brings his documentary of Italian fashion designer Valentino called "Valentino: The Last Emperor," while Emmanuelle Beart stars in Fabrice Du Welz's horror "Vinyan."