New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- Kathryn Bigelow tackles geopolitics in her new film "A House of Dynamite," which has its world premiere on Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival.

The film is about an imminent missile strike on the U.S., from an unknown aggressor, and how the White House responds.

"I grew up in an era when hiding under your school desk was considered the go-to protocol for surviving an atomic bomb," Bigelow said in her director's statement. "Today, the danger has only escalated. Multiple nations possess enough nuclear weapons to end civilization within minutes. And yet, there's a kind of collective numbness - a quiet normalization of the unthinkable."

She added that she wanted to make a film that confronts this paradox - "to explore...