The 75th edition of the world's oldest film festival will open in late August, with some 20 movies competing for the Golden Lion Award. From westerns to the space race and the latest offerings from Oscar-winning directors, this year's Venice Film Festival will present a rich line-up of premieres. Qi Jie has more details.  

Back in May, Netflix pulled out of the Cannes Film Festival after organisers banned its films from competition for its refusal to release them in cinemas. But the Venice event is embracing them. The festival director says lots of filmmakers are now turning to new platforms to produce and distribute movies, including Netflix.

ALBERTO BARBERA DIRECTOR, 75TH VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "Netflix films in Venice are many this year, five or six. I can't remember exactly. I said it last year and I repeated it several times this year too. I guess we must come to terms with this new production realities. We cannot ignore these realities, we cannot pretend they do not exist, we cannot ignore the fact that most or a large part of auteur cinema of today, the cinema that is in some ways also more interesting, with the most significant authors, is produced by these entities. "

The 11-day festival, which usually offers a first peak at Oscar contenders, already has an opening film -- space drama "First Man". The movie chronicles Neil Armstrong's mission to become the first man to walk on the moon.

Also in competition for the Golden Lion Award are the highly anticipated western dark comedy "The Sisters Brothers" by Jacques Audiard, and Yorgos Lanthimos' period piece "The Favourite" with Oscar winner Emma Stone and new actress Olivia Colman.

ALBERTO BARBERA DIRECTOR, 75TH VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "There are 21 films and that is a lot, I know. It is not the first time. It's a particularly rich season, we had to make choices and that is often painful. We had to exclude many films that in a normal season we would have easily included in competition and out of competition in Venice. This is the line-up we chose."

Among the Netflix distributed films in competition are the Coen brothers' western "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and black and white family drama "Roma" by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron.

The media company is also bringing Orson Welles' unfinished "The Other Side of the Wind" to the festival out of competition. The film about movie director making a comeback was first shot in the 1970s and recently completed.

Also out of competition is a remake of romantic musical drama "A Star is Born" starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, as well as crime film "Dragged Across Concrete", starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. QIJIE, CGTN.