Venice has announced that Quentin Tarantino and Joe Dantewill be on the Lido for the duration of the festival as "godfathers"of the festival's "Italian Kings of the B Movies" retrospective.

The sidebar will screen 20-25 restored Italian genre movies,which will then be distributed after the festival both on DVD and in cinemasthat support HD technology.

The retrospective is part of a wider 4-year film restorationproject which is being supported by the Venice Biennale and the FondazionePrada, under the label "Storia Segreta del Cinema Italiano" (SecretHistory of Italian Cinema).

As part of the retrospective, Tarantino will present aspecial homage to Italian writer-director Fernando Di Leo which he has referredto in the past as one of his influences.

Says Tarantino: "When I was a teenager working in avideo store in Santa Monica, one of the first films I saw was I Padroni della Citta (aka The Big Boss). I didn't know it was anItalian film and had never heard of Fernando Di Leo. But I was stunned. Di Leohad shot a gangster movie in the streets of Rome that could very easily havebeen directed by Don Siegel."

Meanwhile, the festival has announced that Helen Mirren will be also be on the main jury in Venice.