The 2025 Venice Film festival starts a week from today! As we prepare to watch people look glamorous in speedboats, let’s speed — SEE WHAT I DID — back into time to check out its 2005 opening ceremony, its closing one, and the premiere of Brokeback Mountain, which took the top prize that year. Trivia: The opening film was Seven Swords; and George Clooney was there in aid of — talk about things coming around again! — Good Night, And Good Luck. It was MUCH less of a celebrity cluster than it currently is — but who can blame people for wanting a free trip to Italy?

[Photos: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage, J. Vespa/WireImage, Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images, George Pimentel/WireImage]

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