KENNETH BRANAGH - TOP FILMMAKERS BATTLE IT OUT FOR VENICE'S GOLDEN LION

TOP FILMMAKERS BATTLE IT OUT FOR VENICE'S GOLDEN LION

Filmmakers KENNETH BRANAGH, ANG LEE, KEN LOACH and WES ANDERSON are among the directors who will battle it out for the top prize at the Venice Film Festival later this year (07). Branagh's remake of Sleuth will go up against Lee's Chinese thriller Lust, Caution, Loach's It's A Free World and Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited for the prestigious Golden Lion award. But they will also face stiff competition from the likes of Brian De Palma (Redacted), Todd Haynes (I'm Not There) and Tony Gilroy, whose movie Michael Clayton stars George Clooney. Other Hollywood stars featured in the competing films include Brad Pitt (in Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Quentin Tarantino (Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django), Charlize Theron (In The Valley of Elah by Paul Haggis) and Keira Knightley and James MCAvoy, who both star in Joe Wright's Atonement. The big-screen adaptation of Ian MCEwan's novel will open the festival on 29 August (07).