The festival, scheduled to run from Sept.
“Halloween Kills,” the latest movie in the “Halloween” horror franchise, will also premiere out of competition.
Five of the 21 competition films are directed by women, Barbera said — down from eight last year.
This year’s festival may see the return of blockbusters to Venice, but it will still be far from business as usual.
In line with Italian government regulations coming into force Aug.
That is far down from this year’s peak of over 25,000 new daily cases in March, but the rise in cases has caused concern in a country that the pandemic hit hard last year.