Venice is ready to roll out the red carpet for its annual cinema showcase.<br/> <br />In its 69th edition the festival is hoping that movies tackling everything from sex to Scientology will help build the buzz it needs to stay ahead of a growing field of rivals.<br/> <br />Some festival-goers are worried that the world's oldest film festival is showing its age.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) Giovanna Nordio, festival-goer, saying (Italian):<br/> <br />"Let's hope there will be something new and original because we are fed up seeing the same old things."<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) Roberta Zoppe, festival-goer, saying (Italian):<br/> <br />"This year the venue looks great and I love it. As for the crisis, I think people will come anyway because Venice is the one and only, it's the number one."<br/> <br />Venice has been facing stiff competition from the overlapping Toronto and more recently the newly introduced Rome festival.<br/> <br />George Clooney, one of its regulars, for instance won't be attending this year.<br/> <br />However some of Hollywood's younger talent will be in town, and thanks to large-scale venue renovations the lido front has a decisively polished look.<br/> <br />And film critics say we can still expect plenty of steam over the next two weeks (August 29-September 8) thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" about a religious cult and Brian De Palma's revenge thriller "Passion", starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.
