VENICE, Italy -- The spirit of the two recently-departed "K"s, Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa, presides over the Venice Film Festival which opens its 56th edition on Wednesday. Kubrick's long-awaited last work "Eyes Wide Shut", completed shortly before he died in March, will set the proceedings in motion in the presence of its stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, and Kubrick's widow Christiane. Kurosawa, a former Golden Lion-winner who died last year, features posthumously with "Ame Agaru" (After the Rain), scripted by him but brought to the screen by his first assistant, Takashi Koizumi. And a third "K", Emir Kusturica, who won the Venice Award for best first film in 1981, will chair the festival jury.

According to an AFP report, eighteen films are in the running for this year's Golden Lion, including three former Cannes Golden Palm winners: New Zealander Jane Campion, Britain's Mike Leigh and the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami. Campion's "Holy Smoke" stars "Titanic" heroine Kate Winslett alongside Harvey Keitel, while leigh presents "Topsy Turvy" and Kiarostami presents "The Wind Will Carry Us Away". Curiously, all four American offerings in competition are directed by non-Americans.

In addition to Campion, Alison MaClean of Canada, the Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and Sweden's Lasse Hallstrom all present U.S.-funded work, respectively "Jesus' Son", "Crazy Alabama" and "The Cider House Rules". East Asia presents a strong slate of films in competition, with Zhang Yimou's "Not One Less" and Zhang Yuan's "Guo Nian Hui Jia" (Seventeen Years) representing China while Jang Sun Woo of South Korea presents "Gojitmal" (Lies). Also tilting at the Golden Lion are films from Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Poland and Portugal. Outside the competition, Woody Allen -- a Venice favorite -- is due to premiere his latest work, "Sweet and Lowdown", starring Sean Penn and Uma Thurmann.