Steven Spielberg's new film The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks as a stateless immigrant blocked from entering the United States, opens the 61st Venice International Film Festival later today.

Hanks and Spielberg are among a raft of big-name Hollywood stars coming to Venice as part of a bid by the organisers to restore glitz to the world's oldest film festival after years in the shadow of its more glamorous French cousin, the Cannes festival.

Hollywood is coming to back the biggest selection of American films ever at the festival, 20 in all, and the stars due to strut along the Venice Lido over the next two weeks include Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep.

Twenty-one films are vying for the prestigious Golden Lion, which is awarded to the festival's best film.

The contenders include US director Jonathan Glazer's Birth, Mike Leigh's Vera Drake, Mira Nair's new film Vanity Fair and Wim Wenders' Land of Plenty, which focuses on post-September 11 America.

For the first time, the race for the Golden Lion will include an animated movie - Howl's Moving Castle by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

Half of the films in competition are from Europe - three Italians, three French as well as one each from Britain, Spain, Germany, Greece, Russia and Switzerland.

Kidman is due to attend the event on September 7, a few days after her ex-husband Cruise swings through to promote his latest film, Michael Mann's Collateral on September 3.

Two long-serving stalwarts of the film world will receive special Golden Lions for lifetime achievement in the industry - Portuguese veteran Manoel de Oliveira, who presents his O quinto imperio in the special events section, and American producer/director Stanley Donen, who directed Singin' in the Rain in 1952.

The jury will be headed by the British director John Boorman of Deliverance and Country of My Skull fame, and also features Spike Lee, Helen Mirren and Scarlett Johansson.

Lee's film She Hate Me starring Monica Belluci and Woody Harrelson, is expected to be one of the draws of the festival.

Festival director Marco Muller, who directed the Locarno festival in Switzerland from 1991-2000 before taking over the reins at Venice only last March, says he wants to make the festival more accessible to younger filmgoers.

The festival runs through September 11.

-- <strong>AFP</strong>