The Voice of Hind Rajab, the film about the story of a young Palestinian girl, is tipped as the favorite. Among the Italians, Sorrentino and Bruni Tedeschi are hoping for success.

So, who wins? The joke that's been circulating at the Lido since Wednesday, when it entered the competition to the longest standing ovation in the history of the Festival, is: The Voice by Hind Rajab is in a different league. In other words, the film, with which Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania is appearing in competition for the first time, has such a civic value that it stands above all judgment. In an edition dominated by the echoes of the ongoing tragedy in Gaza, it gave a voice back to a five-and-a-half-year-old girl on the phone with Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers who tried in vain to save her. But it is precisely its strength as a cinematic work that makes it highly likely that the jury—remember, with a clear majority of directors, from president Alexander Payne, to Maura Delpero, Mohammed Rasoulof, Cristina Mungiu, and Stephane Brizé, with two actresses of the caliber of Fernanda Torres and Zhao Tao—will find a way to award the film a significant prize. Perhaps the most important of all, the Golden Lion at Venice 82. Moreover, the first awards for the film, such as the Golden Lion, arrived yesterday.

It certainly won't have been easy for President Payne and his jury to find a compromise. We'll know in a few hours. In the meantime, you can still indulge in the favorite pre-event game, the lion-themed guessing game. In the final sudoku round—eight prizes to be awarded: in addition to the Golden Lion, two Silver Lions, the Jury Prize and Best Director, two Volpi Cups, the Special Jury Prize, Best Screenplay, and the Mastroianni Award for Best New Actor—some titles are likely to be included. Such as A House of Dynamite, with which Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow uses her solid direction to refocus global public attention on the very real risks of the nuclear threat. Or No Other Choice by Parl Chan-Wook, the odyssey of model worker Man-su who suddenly finds himself unemployed in Korea, struggling with the new technological revolution. The other title that forcefully harks back to our present is The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas, based on the novel by Giuliano da Empoli, a chronicle of the resistible rise of the tyrant Putin (Jude Law), a former KGB agent, thanks to the services of the young and unscrupulous spin doctor Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano). Another title that is being bet on also comes from a novel, À pied d’œuvre by Valerie Donzelli, based on the autobiographical book by Franck Courtès, a photographer who, in order to follow the calling of writing, risks risking his own security and losing himself in the whirlpools of precariousness.

But the jury's choices could also include films that tell the world from a different perspective, unrelated to current events. Such as Silent Friend by Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, where the true protagonist is an ancient ginkgo biloba tree, confronted with the curiosity it arouses in humans of three different generations who come into contact with it.

The excellent reviews received by Paolo Sorrentino's The Grace, including from international critics, lead to optimism for the director who won the Silver Lion four years ago for The Hand of God. Toni Servillo is among the names of the candidates for the Volpi Cup, along with Korean Lee Byung-hun, star of No Other Choice. Among the actresses, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for Pietro Marcello's Duse is called into play with Emma Stone for Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia , Barbara Ronchi for Di Costanzo's Elisa and Amanda Seyfried for The Testament of Ann Lee.