http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/...ck-swan-venice

Black Swan, the new picture from writer-director Darren Aronofsky, will open this year's Venice film festival. A backstage drama set around the New York ballet scene, the film stars Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel.

This marks the 41-year-old Aronofsky's third appearance in the Venice competition. His 2006 drama The Fountain was famously booed when it was unveiled at the festival in 2006. However, he made amends by winning the crowning Golden Lion award for The Wrestler in 2008.

"The cast and crew of Black Swan are both excited and humbled by the festival's invitation," Aronofsky said. "It is an honour to walk the great red carpet on the Lido and we are excited to premiere our film to the wonderful audiences in Venice."

Co-scripted by Aronofsky, Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz, Black Swan casts Portman as an anguished dancer in a New York production of Swan Lake. Mila Kunis co-stars as a rival performer, while the cast also includes Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. Last year's event kicked off with the premiere of Baaria, a Sicilian epic from Giuseppe Tornatore that belatedly opens in the UK this Friday.

The 67th Venice film festival runs from 1-11 September, with Quentin Tarantino as jury president.

Darren Aronofsky's latest movie Black Swan was assigned an R rating for "strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use." Starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballet dancers, the thriller opens in limited release on Wednesday, Dec. 1.

"Swan" centers on a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it's unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions.