Costanzo's film is an adaptation of Paolo Giordano's best-selling novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers, translated into 20 languages, which charts an intense relationship between two misfits.

Cult US director Quentin Tarantino chairs this year's jury. Iranian artist and director Shirin Neshat, who won last year's Silver Lion for her first feature film, Women Without Men, chairs the jury of the Orizzonti new world trends section. In addition to the Golden Lion, Orizzonti and non-competitive sections, the festival will also host Controcampo Italiano, looking at new trends in Italian cinema, and a retrospective of Italian comedy between 1937 and 1988.

Among the other highlights of the fest will be the appearance of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, freed at the end of May after an international campaign, with the world premiere of his L'accordéon (The Accordion). An independent US film inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy and featuring Italian comic and actor Roberto Benigni will also premiere in Venice. La Commedia di Amos Poe, by Tel Aviv-born indie pioneer Poe, will be shown out of competition on Friday September 3. This year's lifetime achievement award will go to Asian and Hollywood director John Woo. The world premiere of Julie Taymor's The Tempest will bring down the curtain on the fest on September 11. Taymor's take on the Shakespeare play, made to celebrate its 400th anniversary, stars Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina and Djimon Hounsou.

GOLDEN LION CONTENDERS. Here are the 24 films bidding for the Leone d'Oro: La Pecora Nera (Black Sheep) by Ascanio Celestini, Italy. Somewhere by Sofia Coppola, United States. Happy Few by Antony Cordier, France. La Solitudine Dei Numeri Primi (The Solitude of Prime Numbers) by Saverio Costanzo, Italy. Ovsyanki (Silent Souls) by Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia. Promises Written in Water by Vincent Gallo, United States. Road to Nowhere by Monte Hellman, United States. Balada Triste de Trompeta (A Sad Trumpet Ballad), by Alex de la Iglesia, Spain. Venus Noire (Black Venus) by Abdellatif Kechiche, France. Post Mortem by Pablo Larrain, Chile. Barney's Version by Richard J. Lewis, Canada. Noi Credevamo (We Believed), by Mario Martone, Italy. La Passione (The Passion), by Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy. Jusan-nin no shikaku (13 Assasins) by Takashi Miike, Japan. Potiche by Francois Ozon, France. Meek's Cutoff by Kelly Reichardt, United States. Miral by Julian Schnabel, United States. Noruwei no mori (Norwegian Wood) by Anh Hung Tran, Japan. Attenberg by Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece. Di Renjie zhi Tongtian diguo (Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame), by Tsui Hark, China. Drei (Three), by Tom Tykwer, Germany. One surprise film will be announced on September 6. photo: Tarantino arriving Tuesday