All glitz and glamour for Venice

Heart-throb Heath Ledger will be one of the star attractions when he arrives at this year's Venice International Film Festival, which launched yesterday with a martial arts epic from Hong Kong.

The 26-year-old actor stars in three of the movies planned to be premiered during the glittering 10-day event, including The Brothers Grimm and Lasse Hallestrom's Casanova.

But Ang Lee's controversial, gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, is sure to cause a stir as Ledger shares more than a few sexy, on-screen kisses with American co-star Jake Gyllenhaal.

As well as being in town for Brokeback Mountain, the Taiwanese director is one of several film-makers being recognised during this year's Asian-themed festival.

He joins Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, whose Seven Swords opened proceedings.

Some of Hollywood's biggest names will descend on Venice for the city's 62nd festival, including Russell Crowe, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Gywneth Paltrow.

Crowe, 41, will tout his boxing drama, Cinderella Man, just a week after reaching a confidential settlement with New York concierge, Nestor Estrada, over a phone-throwing incident in June.

This year's guest list reflects a bid by organisers to reclaim some of the glitz-factor from Cannes, and festival-goers will be treated to an unprecedented nine Hollywood premieres. "This shows how important Venice now is for American cinema," said artistic director Marco Mueller last week.

Hotly anticipated is Clooney's second directorial outing, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Clooney's political thriller is one of 19 in the running for the highly sought-after Golden Lion prize, which will be announced by the jury at the end of the festival.

The festival runs until Saturday.

- AAP