(ANSA) - Rome, July 25 - Movies by Steven Soderbergh and Roman Polanski will be among the contenders to win the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice Film Festival, organizers announced on Thursday.
Soderberg will present The Laundromat at the world's oldest cinema festival, which runs August 28 to September 7.
Starring Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas and Meryl Streep, it tells the story of the Panama Papers.
The competition lineup also features Polanski's J'accuse and James Gray's Ad Astra, with Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland.
Another hotly awaited film will be Joker by Todd Philips, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro. There will be three Italian movies in the main competition - Pietro Marcello's Martin Eden, Franco Maresco's La Mafia Non è più Quella di una Volta (The Mafia isn't what it used to be) and Mario Martone's Il Sindaco del Rione Sanità (The mayor of Rione Sanità.
Polanski, Soderbergh among Venice Film Festival contenders
Three Italian movies in running for Golden Lion