Venice Film Festival to Open with "Black Swan"

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) "Black Swan," the Darren Aronofsky-directed dark thriller starring Natalie Portman, is set to kick off the 67th Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.

The film focuses on a veteran ballerina (played by Portman) whose world turns upside down when a new rival (Mila Kunis) threatens to take away her starring role at a New York ballet company.

Pictures: Venice Film Festival

The film is one of the three movies opening the festival in an unprecedented triple-header that also includes Hong Kong director Andrew Lau's "The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen," starring Donnie Yen, followed by a special midnight screening of Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," starring Jessica Alba, Danny Trejo and Lindsay Lohan.

"I can predict that at midnight the atmosphere will still be the atmosphere of a rock concert or a football match," said festival director Marco Mueller.

"Black Swan" is among 22 movies from 11 countries competing for the prestigious Golden Lion, the festival's top prize. Six of the 22 are from American directors.

Aronofsky's film "The Wrestler" won the award at the 2008 festival.

Jury director Quentin Tarantino said this year's festival lineup, which includes one film that has yet to be announced, is "one of the most wildest, cool, eclectic lineups" he's ever seen.

"It's kind of all over the map, and that's really exciting," he added.

The 67th Venice Film Festival runs through next week and will close with Julie Taymor's adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

The Golden Lion will be awarded on Sept. 11.