The Venice FilmFestival (August 31-Sep 10) has unveiled its streamlined line-up, whichfeatures a record nine US world premieres, as well as an eclectic mix of HighDefinition titles, documentaries and pictures from celebrated internationalfilm-makers.

The main competitionincludes George Clooney's Goodnight and Good Luck, starring Clooney, Jeff Daniels and Robert DowneyJr, Abel Ferrara's Marywith Juliette Binoche and Matthew Modine, Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, John Madden's Proof and Fernando Meirelles's The ConstantGardener. Also playing incompetition is John Turturro's Romance and Cigarettes, with James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet andSusan Sarandon, marking the first time Turturro has chosen to premiere a titlehe has directed on the Lido rather than in Cannes.

"We have arecord 11 US features in the line-up, including nine world premieres, which hasnever happened in Venice," artistic director Marco Mueller said at theVenice press conference in Rome's Excelsior Hotel, where he unveiled the line-up.

Out-of-competitionUS titles include Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, Steven Soderbergh's Bubble and John Singleton's Four Brothers.

"US studioshave agreed to world premiere in Venice some of the most important films of thenext season, and this shows just how important Venice now is for Americancinema."

Meanwhile, the maincompetition also includes Patrice Chereau's Gabrielle, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for LadyVengeance, and in what hasbecome a Venice fixture, the latest film by Manoel de Oliveira, EspelhoMagico with Michel Piccoliand Marisa Paredes.

Italians will seethree films playing in the Venice 62 competition: Pupi Avati's La SecondaNotte di Nozze, which marksthe prolific veteran director's return to the Lido after an absence of 8 years;Cristina Comencini's La Bestia Nel Cuore, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Luigi Lo Cascio andAlessio Boni; and Roberto Faenza's drama, I Giorni dell'Abbandono.

"We selectedthe strongest films of the second half of the year," said Mueller, whosaid that the strongest territories were China, South Korea, France, Germany,the UK, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Russia and the US.

Mueller suggestedthere could also be a "surprise" last minute addition to the maincompetition line-up. Last year'saddition was 3 Iron,which ended up winning the Grand Jury prize.

The Orizzonticompetition (Horizons) for experimental films will feature Werner Herzog'sdocumentary The Wild Blue Yonder, Matthew Barney's debut Drawing Restraint 9, Philip Groning's documentary Die GrosseStille, Fernando E.Solanas's La Dignidad de Los Nadies Armado, and Liev Schreiber's Everything is Illuminated with Elijah Wood.

The Horizons section will open with an out-of-competition screening of Isabel Coixet's The Secret Life Of Words with Tim Robbins and Julie Christie.

The Horizons sectionwill also feature High Definition ( 2K and 4K) titles for the first time,including Soderbergh's 4K Bubble.

As previouslyannounced, the Venice Film Festival will kick off with Tsui Hark's SevenSwords. Closing film is HongKong director Peter Ho-sun Chan's Perhaps Love with Jacky Cheung and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

The Venice 62 jurywill be headed by Dante Ferretti and will include Chinese writer Acheng,France's Claire Denis, Germany's Edgar Reitz, Iceland's Emiliana Torrini andChristine Vachon.


Venice 62 full Competition line-up:
La Seconda Notte di Nozze, dir Pupi Avati (Italy)
O Fatalista, dirJoao Botelho (Portugal/France)
Vers Le Sud, dir LaurentCantet (France/Canada)
Gabrielle, dir PatriceChereau (France/Italy)
Goodnight and Good Luck, dir George Clooney (USA)
La Bestia Nel Cuore, dirCristina Comencini (Italy)
I Giornidell'Abbandono, dir RobertoFaenza (Italy)
Mary, dir Abel Ferrara(Italy/USA)
Les Amants Reguliers, dirPhilippe Garrel (France/Italy)
Garpastum, dir AlekseyGerman Jr (Russia)
The Brothers Grimm, dirTerry Gilliam, (US/UK)
Changhen ge, dir StanleyKwan (China/Hong Kong)
Brokeback Mountain, dirAng Lee (Canada)
Proof, dir John Madden(US/UK)
The Constant Gardener,dir Fernando Mereilles (UK/Kenya/Germ)
Espelho Magico, dirManoel de Oliveira (Portugal)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, dir Park Chan-wook (Korea)
Romance and Cigarettes,dir John Turturro USA
Persona Non Grata, dir Krysztof Zanussi (Pol/Russ/Italy)

Out of Competition
Fragile, dir Jaime Balaguero (Spain)
Backstage, dir EmmanuelleBercot (France)
Corpse Bride, dir TimBurton and Mike Johnson (US/UK)
Perhaps Love, PeterHo-sun Chan (Hong Kong)
All the Invisible Children,dirs Mehdi Charef, Emir Kusturica, Spike Lee, Katia Lund, Jordan Scott, RidleyScott, Stefano Veneruso, John Woo(Italy)
Elizabethtown, dir Cameron Crowe, (USA)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose,dir Scott Derrickson (USA)
Edmond, dir Sturat Gordon(USA)
Casanova, dir LasseHallstrom (USA)
Cinderella Man, dir RonHoward (USA)
The Fine Art of Love-Mine Haha, dir John Irvin (Italy/Czech Rep/UK)
Initial D, dir Andrew Lauand Alan Mak (Hong Kong)
Yokai Daisenso, dir MiikeTakashi (Japan)
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, dir Nomura Tetsuya (Japan)
Le Parfum de la dame en noir, dir Bruno Podalydes (France)
Four Brothers, dir JohnSingleton (USA)
Bubble, dir StevenSoderbergh )USA)
Seven Swords, dir Tsui Hark (China/Hong Kong)

ORIZZONTI (HORIZONS) COMPETITION
Drawing Restraint 9, dir Matthew Barney (USA)
Musikanten, dir FrancoBattiato (Italy)
Pervye Na Lune, dirAleksey Fedortchenko (Russia)
Arido Movie, dir LirioFerreira (Brazil)
Workingman's Death (doc),dir Michael Glawogger (Austria/Germ)
Die Grosse Stille (doc),dir Philip Groning (Germany)
The Wild Blue Yonder(doc), dir Werner Herzog (Germ/UK/France)
Vokaldy Paralelder (doc),dir Rustam Khamdamov (Kazakhistan)
Yolda, dir Erden Kiral(Turkey/Bulgaria)
East of Paradise (doc),dir Lech Kowalski (France)
Hongyan, dir Li Yu(China/France)
Carmen, dir Jean-PierreLimosin (France)
Wuqiong dong, dir NingYing (China)
Texas, dir FaustoParavidino (Italy)
Everything isIlluminated, dir LievSchreiber (USA)
La Dignidad delos Nadies Armado (doc),dir Fernando E. Solanas(Argentina)

Out of competition
La Vida Secreta de lasPalabras, dir Isabel Coixet( Spain)
Special event
Kill Gil, dir Gil Rossellini (Italy)