Venice film festival to open with Alfonso Cuaron's `Gravity'

Rome: The 70th Venice Film Festival will open with the world premiere of the latest from Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, ‘Gravity’, a movie set in outer space featuring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, organizers said Wednesday.

The 3D film will be screened out of competition on the first day of the Aug 28-Sep 7 event. Bullock plays a medical engineer on her first space shuttle mission, while Clooney portrays a veteran astronaut on the verge of retiring. The pair end up alone outside the shuttle after disaster strikes during a scheduled spacewalk. Cuaron`s ties to the Venice Film Festival go back to 2001, when his ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’ garnered the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay and stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna received the Marcello Mastroianni Award. The Mexican`s 2006 film, ‘Children Of Men’, won the Best Cinematography Golden Osella at Venice. IANS