Filmmakers and celebrities attending the upcoming Venice Film Festival will have an unusual extra category to compete in this year: the award for "the most secular film".
The "Brian Prize", which is not part of the official event, has been established by Italy's small but feisty Union of Rational Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR).
"We decided to call it the Brian Prize following a poll on our website," explained UAAR National Secretary Giorgio Villella.
"This is a reference to the 1979 Monty Python film, The Life Of Brian, which parodied the Gospels. However, we also like the name because it is an anagram of 'brain', intended to make people think".
Participants in the poll had to choose between ten films that purportedly espouse rational secular thought, ranging from Stanley Kramer's 1960 classic, Inherit The Wind, through Ken Russell's 1971 work The Devils, to the 2004 blockbuster by Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.
However, the controversial Monty Python hit won out.
The film - which tells the story of Brian, born on the same night a few doors down from Jesus - is meant to be a satire on the alleged hypocrisies of organized religion.
However, it stirred outrage among Christian groups, which view it as disrespectful and blasphemous. The scene of Brian's crucifixion, which sees the cast singing 'Always look on the bright side of life', has proven particularly controversial.
The jury awarding the Brian Prize will include a lawyer, Paolo Ghiretti, and two professors, Mario Chiara Levorato from Padua University and Maria Turchetto of Venice's Ca Foscari University.
The trio will choose between the 22 movies be vying for the official main prize, the Golden Lion, at the 64th edition of the festival, which this year runs from August 29 until September 8.
22 FILMS COMPETE IN OFFICIAL CONTEST.
The line-up for this edition of the world's oldest film contest will pit three little-known but critically acclaimed Italian directors - Vincenzo Marra, Andrea Porporati and Paolo Franchi - against firmly established cinema greats, such as Peter Greenaway, Ken Loach, Brian De Palma and Ang Lee.
The entrants shortlisted for the Golden Lion included four Asian films, two French films, a Spanish movie and an Egyptian - but British and American pictures and co-productions dominate, with 12 titles out of 22.
Heading the jury will be top Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who has won two Golden Lions - for his 1992 film The Story of Qiu Ju and his 1999 movie Not One Less.
US filmmaker Tim Burton is to receive this year's special Golden Lion for career achievement.
Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci will receive a special award marking the 75th anniversary of the festival.
Among the Hollywood names expected to attend the event are George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett and Susan Sarandon.
Although the festival was first staged in 1932, it was suspended during the war years and consequently this edition will actually be the 64th.
