Venice Film Festival set to award Golden Lion after star-filled competition

From ‘The Brutalist’ by US director Brady Corbet tracking the tortured artistic path of a Holocaust survivor to ‘A Room Next Door’, the end-of-life female friendship picture from veteran Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar, the choices are many

The Venice Film Festival wraps up Saturday with one winner to be awarded the prestigious Golden Lion prize out of an eclectic roster of exceptional international films.

From "The Brutalist" by US director Brady Corbet tracking the tortured artistic path of a Holocaust survivor to "A Room Next Door," the end-of-life female friendship picture from veteran Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar, the choices are many — with no one film considered a frontrunner.

Stars have swarmed onto the glamorous Lido this year for the 81st edition of the world's oldest film festival, whose winners often go on to Oscar glory.

Venice's red carpet this season has been graced by the likes of Lady Gaga, starring with Joaquin Phoenix in the sequel to Todd Phillips' antihero "Joker" film, or George Clooney and Brad Pitt, whose action comedy "Wolfs", to be streamed on Apple TV+, premiered out of competition.

Pundits have already singled out "The Brutalist" and "Queer" — an adaptation directed by Italy's Luca Guadagnino of the short novel by Beat Generation writer William Burroughs — as films to keep an eye on, both for their cinematic ambition and the lead performances by actors Adrien Brody and Daniel Craig, respectively.

Angelina Jolie is in contention for a best actress award for her tour-de-force performance as opera diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain's "Maria", as is Nicole Kidman for "Babygirl," an erotic thriller whose graphic sex scenes required an onscreen fearlessness the actress called "freeing".

The jury headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert also has its work cut out to choose a best actor, with both Brody in "The Brutalist" and Craig in "Queer" among the festival's most transformative.