The Venice Fest kicked off its 80th edition Wednesday night on muted note, with the dual Hollywood strikes casting a pall over the glitz and glamour that typically exemplify the world’s oldest cinema fest.

Instead of Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya starrer Challengers — which was scheduled to open Venice pre-strike, getting pulled post-walkout — Venice was forced to go with a more local feature, Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama, Comandante.

Italian actress Caterina Murino hosted the festival’s opening ceremony with a retrospective spanning eight decades of Venice cinema, with clips highlighting past Golden Lion winners.

The audience burst into applause at the sight of the late William Friedkin, whose last film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, will premiere on the Lido this year.

Pierfrancesco Favino plays Todaro, and the Italian star was in attendance.

Charlotte Rampling

Rampling took the stage to honor the legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani with a lifetime Golden Lion award. Rampling reflected on her collaboration with Dirk Bogarde in Cavani’s haunting The Night Potter.

Rampling noted that Cavani is the first woman to win a lifetime Golden Lion, prompting Cavani to note, “That’s not fair. There are many talented women in the industry, writers and directors that deserve to be recognized. I hope I’m just the first of a long list.”

A highlight of the ceremony was montage tribute to this year’s festival jury president, Damien Chazelle, including Venice debuts La La Land and First Man.

Other guests on the carpet included Biennale president Carlo Cracco and Italian politicians Matteo Salvini, Gennaro Sangiuliano and Vittorio Sgarbi, governor of Veneto region Luca Zaia.

The film was received warmly, with polite but short standing ovation.