Few people have been left untouched by the plight of desperate refugees trying to make it to Europe, and at the Venice Film Festival, actors and directors alike shared their distress over the crisis, pleading for tolerance and compassion.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, whose "Birdman" won the festival's top Lion d'Or prize last year and best film at the 2015 Oscars, set the stage on the festival's first day when he urged Europe to welcome the people flocking to its shores.
"I'm a Mexican living in Europe and I've always felt welcome," Cuaron, head of the competition jury, said at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.