The oldest film festival in the world is going big on nail-biters this year, organizers said Thursday, with thrillers dominating the race for Venice’s coveted Golden Lion. Stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are expected to be among the A-listers spotted posing on the red carpet or hopping into gondolas at the gala’s 74th edition. Seen to be a key launch pad for Oscar contenders, this year’s festival will feature 21 world premieres and has gone big on U.S. flicks.

Hollywood heavyweight Ethan Hawke will star in director Paul Schrader’s spine-tingling “First Reformed,” about members of a church tormented by the deaths of loved ones and harbor a dark secret.

In the sprint for the Golden Lion, Schrader will go up against hotly-awaited “Mother!” by Darren Aronofsky, the U.S. director behind the 2010 psychological horror film “Black Swan.” Starring Jennifer Lawrence, the new film tells the tale of a couple thrown into turmoil by uninvited guests.

Britain’s Martin McDonaugh – best known for his black comedies “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths” – will hope to suitably unnerve the jury with thriller “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” starring Frances McDormand as a middle-aged mother who challenges police after her daughter is murdered but no killer is found.

It won’t be all white-knuckle suspense on the Lido. The festival will get started on a lighter note.

Oscar-winning U.S. director Alexander Payne’s latest sci-fi comedy “Downsizing” will open the show, starring Matt Damon as a man who realizes he would have a better life if he shrank, and Kirsten Wiig as his indecisive wife.

Damon also stars in Clooney’s dark comedy “Suburbicon.” Written by the Coen brothers, the film sees Damon play the father of a suburban family in 1959, who discovers the neighborhood’s dark underbelly of violence.

Teasers released by Paramount show a very blonde Julianne Moore co-starring in Clooney’s sixth directorial effort.

This year’s jury chief U.S. actress Annette Bening will be joined in her deliberations by a panel of industry professionals that includes filmmakers Michel Franco and Edgar Wright and actress Rebecca Hall.

Also in the running is the latest by Mexican fantasy master Guillermo del Toro, the man behind “Pan’s Labyrinth,” 2006. A Cold War-era fairytale love story, “The Shape of Water” stars Sally Hawkins as a custodial worker in a government laboratory who discovers and smuggles out a top-secret experiment.

Two documentaries are also in the running. Joining Frederick Wiseman’s “Ex Libris, New York Public Library” is Ai WeiWei’s “Human Flow,” which was filmed in 23 countries and explores the staggering scale of today’s global migration issue.

Tunisian-French director Abdel-Latif Kechiche will bring “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” an ’80s coming-of-age story, while Italy’s Paolo Virzi will premiere “The Leisure Seeker,” starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.

Out of competition but eagerly awaited is “Victoria & Abdul,” from Britain’s Stephen Frears. Starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal and Eddie Izzard, the film is about Queen Victoria’s unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk.

“Exorcist” director William Friedkin delves into the story of a real-life exorcism with his documentary “The Devil and the Father Amorth” while Netflix unveils its first Italian original series “Suburra,” about gangsters and politicians in Rome.

American thespians Robert Redford and Jane Fonda will be celebrated with Golden Lion lifetime achievement awards.

The Venice film festival will run July 30 through Aug. 9.

source: AFP