[caption id="" align="alignright" width="193" caption="Filmmaker Takashi Miike"][/caption]

Two Japanese movies have been nominated for the 67th Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion award, organizers of the festival beginning Sept. 1 said Thursday July 29th.

One is "Norwegian Wood" directed by Vietnamese-born French director Tran Anh Hung, based on Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami's bestseller of the same title.

The other is "Ju-san nin no shikaku" (13 Assassins) directed by Japanese director Takashi Miike.

The Venice Film Festival is regarded as one of the world's three major film festivals, and the winners of its main prizes are scheduled to be announced on Sept. 11, the closing day of the festival. American film director Quentin Tarantino chairs the Jury.

"Norwegian Wood" is a love story which shows a man trying to overcome the death of his friend.

"Ju-san nin no shikaku" is a period drama which depicts the lives of men who try to assassinate the brother of a "shogun" or feudal general.

At previous Venice film festivals, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa won the grand prize for "Rashomon" and Takeshi Kitano won the prize for "Hana-Bi."

The complete line-up of the festival is available on the festival's website.

Source: Kyodo