VENI, Italy, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The European premiere of "The Terminal" launched the Venice Film Festival, with star Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg showing up for the event by boat.
Hanks and Spielberg sailed Wednesday to the Hotel Excelsior on Lido Beach in Venice, Italy, to join other Hollywood stars for the first day of the festival running through Sept. 11, BBC reported.
Scarlett Johansson and Spike Lee were already in Venice, with Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep expected to show up during the festival.
Twenty one films are competing for the festival's prestigious Golden Lion award, including "Birth" with Nicole Kidman, "Mar Adentro," a true story about a paralysed Spaniard's attempts to end his life, and Mira Nair's adaptation of Thackeray's 19th-century novel Vanity Fair.
One hundred seventy films and shorts from 28 countries will be shown during the event.
