The winner of the coveted Golden Lion is set to be announced at the Venice film festival.
The Wrestler has won the coveted Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival.
The Hurt Locker, about a bomb disposal team in Iraq starring Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes, is tipped for the top prize, which is awarded for best film.
The film stars Mickey Rourke as a has-been professional wrestler pitifully loath to throw in the towel. It marks Rourke's return from acting obscurity.
Mickey Rourke and Anne Hathaway are also the favourites to take home the best actor and actress awards.
The Silver Lion for best director was won by Russia's Alexei German Jr for Paper Soldier.
Awards for best screenplay, a jury prize and a Silver Lion for best director will also be given.
Italy's Silvio Orlando and Dominique Blanc were winners in the best male and female categories respectively.
The Devil Wears Prada star Hathaway gained rave reviews for her role in Rachel Getting Married, where she plays a recovering drug addict who shakes up her sister's wedding with an overdose of honesty about their dysfunctional family.
Orlando starred in Il Papa di Giovanna and Blanc was in L'Autre.
Competition
The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky, drew praise from critics and the public alike.
Rourke also received a rapturous response to his portrayal of a has-been professional wrestler pitifully loath to throw in the towel.
The 11-day cinema showcase has been under fire for what some critics said was a generally weak selection of 21 films in the main competition.
The Hurt Locker faces stiff competition for the Golden Lion from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, who charmed critics and the public with his animation Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, a re-telling of The Little Mermaid fairytale.
It is often perceived as the unofficial start of the long run-in to the Oscars the following year, where Rourke is widely expected to be nominated in the best actor category.
If Miyazaki wins, it will be the fourth year in a row an Asian director has done so.
The 11-day cinema showcase has been under fire for what critics said was a generally weak selection of 21 films in the main competition.
But festival director Marco Mueller defended the films before the jury, headed by German director Wim Wenders, saying they were "the best that are out there".
