Ready or not, curtains open on Venice Film Fest.

"Ten per cent of the fest's lineup is missing," Festival Director Gillo Pontecorvo said. "There were four films that I wanted to include in the competition but they missed the deadline by 15 days, which makes me very angry." Stephania Valente, a spokesperson for the festival, said that a lot of important directors, such as Martin Scorsese, hoped to come to Venice, but their films were not yet completed. And Carlo Lizzani is scrambling to make an eleventh-hour deadline with his (non-competing) film, Celluloid, a behind-the-scenes drama about the making of Roberto Rossellini's Roma Citta Aperta.

Nonetheless, the 52nd Venice Film Festival promises to present a variety of films, in both geography in language, said Pontecorvo. The festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9 at Venice, Italy's Lido and in other parts of the city, will include films from countries such as Germany, Spain and Mexico, which have been largely absent from the festival circuit in recent years.

The Esterno Notte screenings will be held in the City Center of Venice and on the mainland with the Venice Municipality as an integral part of the festival. The films exhibited are the same as those screened at Venetian Nights, the other competitive section, but will be shown a day later.

The Venezia LII (Venice 52nd) Section will present feature films considered to be the most interesting and significant at the current time, without excluding any style or genre. Greater- or lesser-known directors will be placed together to make for a broad international panorama under the aegis of rigorous artistic quality. No more than two films in competition may be screened daily in the Venezia LII Section.

The favorites to take home the coveted Golden Lion Award are Kenneth Branagh's In the Bleak Midwinter (U.K.); Marco Tullio Giordana's Pasolini: An Italian Crime, (Italy), the dramatized inquest into Pier Paolo Pasolini's brutal murder; and for the U.S., Spike Lee's Clockers starring Harvey Keitel and John Turturro, and Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston.

In determining what films would qualify for the festival, Pontecorvo said that the desire to communicate was the most important qualification. "It's difficult to make films that please both the critics and the public, but we hope to do just that," commented French film director Rene Clair.

The films will be judged by an international jury made up of personalities from the film industry who have displayed a proven track record in the field and who have no special interest in promoting any of the nominated films. In the event of a tie, the vote of the president of the jury will be worth two points. Once the jury has screened all of the films, the following awards will be conferred: The Golden Lion --Best Film; The Special Jury Award--A particularly "special" film due to its subject matter; The Volpi Cup--Best Actress; and The Volpi Cup--Best Actor. (*The Volpi Cup cannot be awarded to actors or actresses who have been dubbed in the original version of the nominated film.)

After these awards are conferred, the jury may present additional awards, on the condition that a two-thirds majority vote is obtained in each case.

Set to sit as jurors are former Columbia President Mo Rothman; directors Abbas Kiarostami, Mario Martone, and Margarethe von Trotta; screenwriter and former Cultural Minister for Spain Jorge Semprun; former film critic for The Los Angeles Times Peter Rainer; and celebrated Italian film actress Francesca Nen. The two additional spots have yet to be filled, although an offer has gone out to acclaimed U.S. actress cum director Jodie Foster.

For the Centenary of Cinema and of the Biennale, upon proposals made by the festival's director, the Biennale Board of Directors will award up to eight Golden Lions for "career achievement" to living personalities. This award honors individuals who work in a variety of areas for their significant contribution to the evolution of cinematographic art.

For those who are new to this festival, or who have come to think of it as strictly a contest, a mini-Cannes if you will, it is important to reflect on the reason why the Biennale di Venezia organized it in the first place. The aim of the festival is to promote the understanding of film in all its forms, as art and as entertainment, in order to stimulate creativity and development within the context of a constantly changing society. In fact, Item 1, Article 3 of the Aims and Organization of the festival states that within the central section of the festival a venue will be provided to hold the annual meeting of the directing committee of the International Union of Authors. This organization was created to safeguard artistic expression and the rights to creativity in the audiovisual field.

Pontecorvo, now in his fourth year as director, continues to be diligent in this directive. In an effort to stay abreast of the ever-changing international film climate, he has scheduled an international film directors' symposium as a key event. This symposium will provide a forum in which to discuss the problems that films and filmmakers face today and what lies ahead for the future, said Valente. Two years ago, Pontecorvo held a similar symposium where a consortium of directors, including Robert Altman and Steven Spielberg, spoke on the dais.

Pontecorvo expressed concern, however, when asked about the trend and style of the films in this year's festival. He said, "there is an overall feeling of pessimism as we approach the next century I find that directors are not looking at the reality that surrounds them."

Films slated to compete in the main competition are as follows:

Crimson Tide, Tony Scott (U.S.)

In the Bleak Midwinter, Kenneth Branagh (U.K.)

No Sender, Carlos Carrera (Mexico)

The Ceremony, Claude Chabrol (France)

Pasolini: An Italian Crime, Marco Tullio Giordana (Italy)

Guantanamera, Thomas Gutierez Alea, Jean-Carlos Tabio Rey (Cuba)

The Deathmaker, Romuald Karmakar (Germany)

Illusion of Light, Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan) Clockers, Spike Lee (U.S.)

God's Comedy, Joao Cesar Monteiro (Portugal)

Cardiogram, Darezhan Omirbacv (Kazakhstan)

Nothing Personal, Thaddeus O'Sullivan (Ireland)

The Crossing Guard, Sean Penn (U.S.) Diary of a Poor Young Man, Ettore Scola (Italy)

The Flying Dutchman, Jos Stelling (Netherlands, Belgium)

Star Man, Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) Cyclo, Tran Anh Hung (Vietnam)

These movies, as well as those screening in the Venetian Nights showcase, will be shown m the veteran Palazzo del Cinema. Built in 1932 and synonymous with the Venice Film Festival, this building is undergoing a facelift. Unfortunately, fest trekkers won't be able to fully enjoy the new and improved venue until 1996. Other theaters lending their screens for the film fest and competition are: Palla Gallalio, the Casino Theater, and four screening rooms in the Excelsior Hotel. The latter is also acting as the venue for the daily morning press conferences.

The "out of competition" films are Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (U.S.) and Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders' Beyond the Clouds (Italy/France).

Kicking off this year's festival on August 30, in the Venetian Nights showcase and in a non-competing capacity, is Tony Scott's Crimson Tide. Tide stars Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington will be on hand to launch their pie. Other glitterati tripsters include Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon (Apollo 13), Kevin Costner (Waterworld), Mel Gibson (Braveheart), Sir Ralph Fiennes for Kathryn Bigelow's futuristic thriller Strange Days, Linda Fiorentino and Chas Palmintieri for William Friedkin's Jade, Quentin Tarantino for Four Rooms, and Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh for Taylor Hackford's Dolores Claiborne, to name a few.

A new section to the fest is the Fast Lane (Corsia di Sorpasso), created by Pontecorvo. According to Valente, this is a very important section for the young directors. "This section will exhibit a selection of films by directors whose work features quality, original subject matter, or support for a particular national identity, providing a panorama of international trends to round out the festival," Valente remarked.

The Panorama Italiano Section will screen recent Italian productions, the sum of which will provide an overview of the last century of Italian cinema.

The Finestra sulle Immagini (Window on Images) is a selection of films and audiovisual material featuring experimental works and new technologies. This selection will be broken up into a variety of different categories: feature length films, auteur films, short and medium length films, documentaries, animation, special interest material, fragments, screen tests and director's cuts, and television programs. Unlike the other sections, the Finestra sulle Immagini accepts formats such as 35 mm optical, 16 mm optical, BVU and BETA-CAM video.

There will also be an Homage/Retrospective Section to honor current or past personalities of great importance in the history of motion pictures.