The 72nd Venice Film Festival commences today. The oldest film festival in the world, which takes place on the Lido Peninsula of Venice, will kick off with the red carpet ceremony of Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur's latest film "Everest." Adapted from a true story, the film recounts the adventures of two mountaineering teams trying to climb the highest summit in the world. Two-time Academy Award winning Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron and Palme d'Or winning Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan are among the jury members of the festival. As a part of the festival, various films will be screened in eight different categories and three Turkish films will make their festival debut.Selected for the Golden Lion competition, Turkish director Emin Alper's second feature-length film "Abluka" (Frenzy) focuses on two brothers who try to survive in Istanbul while the city is in the grip of political violence.Senem Tüzen's debut feature "Anayurdu" (Motherland) will also be competing at the festival for the Best First Feature Prize and to be screened during the Critic's Week section. The film follows the story of Nesrin who returns to his mother's cottage in their village in order to finish her novel and what happens when her mother decides to pay a visit to her daughter.Yılmaz Güney's cult 1970 film "Umut" (Hope) which focuses on the story of a poor coachman laying his hopes on finding a buried treasure will make its world premiere within the scope of the "Venice Classics" section, which screens restored films that have left a mark on world cinema.Apart from Alper's "Abluka," Laurie Anderson's "Heart of a Dog," Sue Brooks' "Looking for Grace," Marco Bellocchio's "Sangue del Mio Sangue," Drake Doremus's "Equals," Atom Egoyan's "Remember," Cary Fukunga's "Beasts of no Nation," Giuseppe M. Gaudino's "Per Amor Vostro," Xavier Giannoli's "Marguerite," Amos Gitai's "Rabin, the Last Day," Luca Guadagnino's "A Bigger Splash," Oliver Hermanus' "The Endless River," Tom Hooper's "The Danish Girl," Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's "Anomalisa," Zhao Liang's "Behemoth," Piero Messina's "L'Attesa," Jerzy Skolimowski's "11 Minutes," Aleksandr Sokurov's "Francofonia," Pablo Trapero's "El Clan" and Lorenzo Vigas's Desde Alla and Christian Vincent's "L'Hermine" will compete for the Golden Lion. The winner of the Golden Lion and other awards will be announced on Sept. 12 during the award ceremony. Swedish director Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" won last year's Golden Lion, while Turkish director Kaan Müjdeci's "Sivas" won the Special Jury Prize. The Culture and Tourism Ministry will host a reception at the San Clemente Palace Hotel in honor of the actors and the producers of the three Turkish films that will be screened at the 72nd Venice Film Festival.