FACTBOX: Venice film festival

(Reuters) - The 65th Venice international film festival, organized by the Venice Biennale, opens on Wednesday with the world premiere of the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading".

Here are some details about the festival:

BEGINNINGS:

-- The first "Esposizione d'Arte Cinematografica" came into being in 1932. The first film to be shown was Rouben Mamoulian's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," screened in August 1932.

-- The second festival, held in August 1934, included the first competition. Nineteen countries took part with more than 300 accredited journalists. The "Coppa Mussolini" was introduced for best foreign film and best Italian film.

RECENT FESTIVALS:

-- Over the years Venice helped establish New German Cinema throughout the world. Film makers such as Wim Wenders and Margarethe Von Trotta (the first woman to win the Golden Lion) received the highest recognition at the festival.

-- Taiwanese director Ang Lee's sexually explicit spy thriller "Lust, Caution" was the surprise winner of the top award at the 2007 festival, just two years after he won with "Brokeback Mountain".

-- The main competition line-up of 23 movies was strong on political cinema and the Silver Lion for best director went to U.S. film maker Brian De Palma, whose "Redacted" shocked audiences with its brutal reconstruction of the real-life rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers in 2006.

THE 2008 LINE-UP:

-- Big Hollywood studios will take a back seat at this year's Venice film festival, with the competition line-up highlighting independent U.S. cinema, Italian productions and Japanese animation movies.

-- Among them is Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married," starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger. The other U.S. films in the main contest are all by lesser known or first-time directors. They include "The Burning Plain" with Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron and "The Wrestler," with Mickey Rourke in the lead role.

-- Italy and Japan loom large over the rest of the 21-film competition, with four and three movies respectively. Two of the Japanese offerings are animation films, including "Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea" by cult director Hayao Miyazaki.