Venice Film Festival rounds out programme with two additions

The Venice Film Festival on Tuesday added to its roster two more films out of competition, completing the programme for one of international cinema's biggest annual events.

The US independent film "Run Hide Fight," written and directed by Kyle Rankin, and Italian director Luca Guadagnino's short film "Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!" were added to the September line-up.

Guadagnino directed 2018's supernatural horror thriller "Suspiria" and the critically acclaimed coming-of-age gay romance "Call Me by Your Name" in 2017.

At the end of July, the organizers had already presented the 18 works in the race for the Golden Lion top prize.

The president of the jury at the 77th edition of the festival, which runs from September 2 to 12, is the Australian actress Cate Blanchett.

In "Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!" Guadagnino shows how his former childhood friends in Sicily dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.

"Run Hide Fight" is about a young woman who gets caught up in a hostage-taking at a US school.

In addition to the 18 films in the competition, 24 works are screened out of competition.

Venice is the first major film festival to be staged following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ticketing will all be done online. Additionally, audience members will be made to sit one seat apart and subjected to temperature checks before screenings.

With several titles being postponed due to the pandemic, and travel restrictions for US travellers to Europe, Venice was expected to struggle to attract big Hollywood stars.