Stars flock to Venice as film festival begins The Venice film festival kicked off Wednesday with the arrival of international stars for a fortnight dominated by art house tales of war, poetry and the mafia. The first film to take the stage at the world's oldest film festival will be Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance", starring Michael Keaton. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES.