Three Italians will be competing against the likes of Peter Greenaway, Ken Loach, Brian De Palma and Ang Lee for the coveted Golden Lion in the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
The list of 22 movies vying in the 64th edition of the world's oldest film contest, running from August 29 until September 8, was unveiled in Rome on Thursday by fest chief Marco Müller.
Italy's hopes in the festival, which always stirs up patriotism in the nation's cinema industry and media, are pinned on a trio of little-known but critically acclaimed directors - Vincenzo Marra, Andrea Porporati and Paolo Franchi.
Marra's L'Ora di Punta (Rush Hour), his third feature, turns on a ruthless Roman social climber and stars French actress Fanny Ardant.
The director's previous movie, Vento di Terra, picked up Venice's Special Mention award in 2004.
Il Dolce e l'Amaro (The Sweet and the Bitter) is a Mafia pic and the second movie to be made by director and writer Porporati.
Franchi's movie Nessuna Qualita' Agli Eroi (No Qualities for Heroes) is also a second movie for its director and focuses on the psychological state of a youth who decides to kill his parents.
The three Italians will be facing off against auteur masters such as France's Eric Rohmer, Britain's Greenaway and Russia's Nikita Mikhalkov.
New Wave legend Rohmer, who turned 87 this year, is in the race with an other-worldly romantic comedy called The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, while Greenaway is competing with Nightwatching, a film centring on the creation of Dutch painter Rembrandt's most famous work, The Night Watch.
Oscar-winner Mikhalkov's 12 Angry Men is about a dissenting juror in a murder trial.
Attention is sure to focus on two American films about the Iraqi war: Brian De Palma's Redacted, about a group of US troops who persecute an Iraqi family; and In the Valley of Elah by Oscar-winning Crash writer and director Paul Haggis which centres on the killing of a US soldier on his return from Iraq.
Loach's movie It's a Free World looks at illegal employment in Britain while Taiwan director Ang Lee, who won Venice's top prize in 2005 with Brokeback Mountain, is returning with Lust, Caution, a Chinese-language spy thriller.
British director and actor Kenneth Branagh's Sleuth starring Michael Caine and Jude Law, a re-make of the 1972 film of the same name, made it into the contest, as did Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, a quirky movie shot in India.
Although the competitive category included four Asian films, two French films, a Spanish movie and an Egyptian one, British and American pictures and co-productions dominated with 12 titles out of 22.
Joe Wright's Atonement, based on Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel, is not only competing but will open the festival.
In all, 15 American films and seven British ones will be screened at Venice, with the non-competing premieres including Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream.
Müller said the choice was deliberate and paid tribute to what he saw as an air of renewal and innovation in the American and British film worlds.
"Despite the dominance of mainstream US films, these movies show that there is a variety of different works being made - signs of a cinema which is renewing itself," he said.
"They're capable of creating daring works which also attract the stars," he said.
Other keenly awaited films debuting outside the competition include Claude Chabrol's La Fille Coupee en Deux, Takeshi Kitano's Glory to the Filmmaker! and Julio Bressane's Cleopatra.
Müller stressed that 90% of the feature films to be screened would be making their world premieres.
HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR APLENTY.
The Venice festival is also hoping to stave off the competition from Rome's fledgling film fest with an impressive array of stars on its red carpet.
Among the Hollywood names expected to attend are George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett and Susan Sarandon.
Heading the jury will be top Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
The 56-year-old filmmaker has won two Golden Lions - for his 1992 film The Story of Qiu Ju and his 1999 movie Not One Less.
As previously announced, 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.
Although the festival was first staged in 1932, it was suspended during the war years and consequently this edition will actually be the 64th.
