Woody Allen's Anything Else will open the 60th Venice International Film Festival which runs from Aug 27th to September 6th, organisers announced.

The festival-shy director has also confirmed that he will attend the movie's world premiere on the Lido - the first time he will have attended the festival.

"I'm looking forward to going to the festival. I've never been to Venice at festival time and the city has been so generous and supportive to me and I love it so much that it will be a great honour," Allen said.

Anything Else stars Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Jeremy Fallon and Danny De Vito in the story of a struggling artist who has an affair with a much younger woman.

DreamWorks SKG is handling domestic rights on the film, while UK-based Capitol Films holds worldwide distribution rights.

"The making of the film has been a well-kept secret and those few who have seen it are enthusiastic about it," Venice organisers said in a statement.

The festival previously announced that it will also pay homage to Katharine Hepburn, who died on June 29th 2003, with a special screening of a restored copy of David Lean's Summertime (aka Summer Madness) which is set in Venice

Meanwhile, festival innovations include the newly-expanded Venice Screenings, which will see a 500 square metre area inside the Hotel Excelsior turned into an industry meeting place with screening booths and stands for exhibitors.

Venice's full line up will be unveiled at a press conference in Rome on July 31st.