Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's latest film Baaria will inaugurate this year's Venice Film Festival on September 2, the director said on Wednesday.
The semi-autobiographical epic explores three generations of life in the Sicilian village of Bagheria, near Palermo, where Tornatore grew up.
''It's my most personal film yet,'' he said. ''A funny, sad story about great love, devastating dreams and everyday heroes''.
''Baaria is a village where whole lives are played out along main street. It is just a few hundred metres long but moving back and forth along it over the years, you learn more about life than the world could ever teach you.
Baaria, Sicilian dialect for Bagheria, was filmed on a massive set outside Tunis featuring a meticulously reconstructed version of the village.
The big-budget movie, which goes on general release in Italy on September 25, boasts an ensemble cast, including big-name international stars such as Monica Bellucci and Raoul Bova.
It will be the first Italian film to open the festival in 20 years.
Tornatore won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1990 with Cinema Paradiso, which regularly features on lists of favourite films worldwide.
The 53-year-old director has appeared at the Venice festival before, with a documentary devoted to Sicily and a 1995 feature film, The Star Maker, which won him the Grand Special Jury Prize
JOHN LASSETER TO RECEIVE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
The father of modern animation John Lasseter will also be celebrated at the 66th edition of the festival, which this year runs from September 2 to 12.
Lasseter is to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, which will jointly honour the Pixar/Walt Disney legend's leading fellow animators.
To coincide with the award, the festival has planned a series of Pixar and Disney films, including the world premiere screenings of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D.
Advance footage of the Disney-Pixar studio's version of the Princess and the Frog, marking a return to hand-painted animation, will also be screened.
The other tribute screenings will include Andrew Stanton's Finding Nemo, Brad Bird's The Incredibles and the Italian premiere of Pete Docter's Up.
Commenting on the announcement, Lasseter said he and his fellow animators were ''extremely grateful and honoured'' by the ''special recognition''.
Further details of the Venice Film Festival, directed by Marco Mueller for the sixth year running, will be unveiled during a July press conference.
