The Venice Film Festival is known as one of the most important and oldest film festivals in the world.

This year, 20 films are competing for the Golden Lion and no film has stood out as a clear front-runner to win the award. The Golden Lion is top prize at the festival and it can bring international exposure to an unknown film.

Recently, "Sacro GRA," "Pieta," "Faust," "Somewhere," "Lebanon" and "The Wrestler" won the award.

This year, the film that has been generating the most buzz is "Birdman". The satire, by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, opened the event to rave reviews and immediately Oscar buzz began. The feature has the potential of winning the Golden Lion, but Venice is usually unpredictable and hardly goes for Oscar buzz-y films. Additionally, the festival has not been keen on awarding star-studded pictures throughout the past years.

"99 Homes" also took Venice by storm. The film, directed by Ramin Bahrani and starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon, was one of the critics darlings at the festival. Oscar buzz immediately started but the film has been unable to obtain distribution. Bahrani presented "At Any Price" a few years ago and that movie premiered to mixed reception. If "99 Homes" takes the Golden Lion, the movie will immediately get a distributor and open in time for awards season.

Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary "The Look of Silence" was another film that took festival-goers by storm as it presented a harsh documentary about a family that survived the genocide in Indonesia. The film obtained rave reviews and many compared it to the director's last effort "The Act of Killing" which was nominated for the Oscar. However, the fact that it is a documentary may hurt its chances, as it is rare to see two documentaries win two years straight.

Another film with that could potentially win is the Swedish entry "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence." The quirky comedy received rave reviews and director Roy Andersson is no stranger to the festival circuit. He is one of the most respected directors in the world and has won numerous prizes at Berlin and Cannes. This is his first nomination in Venice and as a result, the festival may want to award him.

Benoit Jacquot's "Three Hearts" was ecstatically received. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Martoianni and Catherine Deneuve, the movie received great reviews and immediately obtained U.S distribution through Cohen Media Group. Jacquot has competed three previous times for the Golden Lion and this film could be his first win.

French director Xavier Beauvois also turned in a top contender with his latest "The Price of Fame." Beauvois, who is best known for his last film "Of Gods and Men," was praised for blending Social realism with Chaplin-esque comedy.

Andrew Niccol's latest "Good Kill" was received with enthusiasm for its intelligent script while Russian director Andrey Konchalovskiy's "The Postman's White Night" was hailed as a masterpiece in filmmaking.

Some films obtained good reception but were not standouts. These included the intimate drama "The Last Hammer Blow" by Alix Delaporte and Francesco Munzi's "Anime Nere."

The Chinese picture "Red Amnesia" was hailed for its script and pacing, but many had reservations whether audiences and jury members could take the pace of the first act.

A number of films, however, received mixed reception at the festival. Among them was German director Faith Akin's latest "The Cut" starring Tahar Rahim.

The Filipino feature "Fires on the Plane" was received with raves, but most critics noted that it was too gory and, at times, it was very redundant. Pundits also noted that the film was shocking but overindulgent.

Abel Ferrara's "Pasolini" biopic starring Willem Dafoe was also met with reservations as many noted that it was too long and would not satisfy audiences who were not familiar with the director's work.

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad's film "Tales" was also criticized for having a weak script, while David Gordon Green's latest "Manglehorn," starring Al Pacino, was criticized for its casting choices.

The Adam Driver starrer "Hungry Hearts" also had mixed reactions, with critics stating that it starts out as a charming romance but eventually becomes exasperating. Venice favorite Mario Martone showcased his latest "Il Giovane Favoloso." However, it also premiered to mixed reception with critics complaining about the length and script.

Turkish filmmaker Kaan Mujdeci's feature debut "Sivas" was also a mixed bag as well as "Far From Men", starring Viggo Mortensen in his first French role.

The Golden Lion will be handed out on Sept. 6.

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