Keira, George, Jude Ciao Down at Venice Film Fest

There'll be no keeping on the down low on the Lido this year.

The stars are coming out in full force for next month's 64th Venice Film Festival with the lineup for both in and out of competition films boasting performances, and consequently red carpet appearances, from the cream of Hollywood's crop.

Twenty-two films have been included in the Italian festival's competition this year, which runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8.

Chosen to kick off the festivities this year is Atonement, the big-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's bestselling novel, starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave. The film was helmed by Joe Wright, a relative newcomer who in his last outing, Pride & Prejudice, directed Knightley right into an Oscar nomination.

Joining Atonement in competition for the Golden Lion are a slew of high-profile entries, including: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, starring one Brad Pitt; Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited; Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney; Kenneth Branagh's remake of Sleuth with Alfies past and present Jude Law and Michael Caine; and the exercise in creative casting that is the Bob Dylan-based Todd Haynes flick I'm Not There.

The Darjeeling Limited stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and go-to Anderson repertory player Jason Schwartzman. The film chronicles three brothers who head to India to embark on a spiritual quest and, being an Anderson production, is satirical in nature.

In I'm Not There, six stars each take a stab at playing the folk-rock troubadour, including Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and even Cate Blanchett, at different stages of his life. Gere is also represented at the fest in The Hunting Party, essaying a journalist tracking down Bosnian war criminals; that film is screening out of competition.

War is, unavoidably, one of the major themes of this year's entrants, with Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah and Brian De Palma's Redacted centering around the goings-on in Iraq. Haggis' flick stars Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron and chronicles a war vet who goes missing, while De Palma's offering is a montage of stories about soldiers in the conflict.

Branagh's Sleuth, a remake of the 1972 mystery, stars Caine and Law and centers on an aging mystery writer who loses his wife to a young male hairdresser. Caine also starred in the original version, though that time as the other, younger man.

Michael Clayton, the Clooney-led legal thriller, is also slated for the main competition, and centers on a lawyer who specializes in cleaning up clients' personal problems.

Fest favorite Lee, too, will return to Venice this year with the Singapore-set spy thriller Lust, Caution. The film marks Lee's return to Chinese-language films in the wake of a string of English successes, most notably Brokeback Mountain, which in 2005 took home the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion.

The films screening out of competition this year are as anticipated, not to mention star-studded, as those vying for the top prize.

The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johansson, is set to have its world premiere at the festival's sidebar offshoot Venetian Nights, where Gere's Hunting Party is also scheduled to screen.

Woody Allen's latest London love letter, too, is also set to screen out of competition. Cassandra's Dream, one of Allen's few recent films that does not star go-to leading lady Johansson, revolves around two brothers facing serious money problems who get tempted into a life of crime. Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor play the siblings.

The films at this year's festival will be judged, as usual, by a six-person jury, though breaking from tradition, this year's assembled panel is comprised solely of directors. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jane Campion and Paul Verhoeven are among the judicial helmers who will dole out the prizes.

One prize, though, has already been determined. Director Tim Burton, who lorded over Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among countless other films, will receive the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award for his career contribution to the big screen.

While this year's fest should mark the event's 75th anniversary—it's inaugural lineup of films debuted in 1932—world wars and local protests caused it to lapse for several years, resulting in this being just the 64th official edition.