VENICE - The Venice Film Festival, once a showcase for great Italian cinema, is paying homage to Italy's film pioneers and its new generation of moviemakers who are fanning hopes of a cinematic revival.

Three of the 21 features vying for the coveted Golden Lion are "Made in Italy" movies -- the same number sent by Hollywood studios -- while two of 19 films competing in the cutting-edge "Upstream" segment have Italian directors at the helm, Reuters reported.

An Italian car race movie set in working-class suburbs of Rome, a period piece about two famous Italian poets and an intimate look at the collapse of one man's family will all be shown on the big screen in Venice this year.

The world's oldest film festival is also recognizing two of Italy's great moviemakers.

Master of comedy Dino Risi will receive a Golden Lion Lifetime Award and the festival is holding a retrospective of Michelangelo Antonioni's works, timed to coincide with his 90th birthday.

"People say it took a foreign festival director to recognize some of Italy's great contributions to cinema," said Moritz de Hadeln, a Swiss citizen and new chief of the Venice Film Festival, adding that the movies were picked purely on merit.

Italian screen Siren Sophia Loren has stolen this year's limelight with her first appearance on the red carpet in 20 years.

Italian directors also have four films showing out of competition and a whole section dedicated to their films in the "New Territories" segment.

Venice's Italy focus comes after a spate of victories abroad in recent years. Roberto Benigni's ****La Vita e Bella**** (Life Is Beautiful) picked up three Oscars in 1999 including best foreign film and Nanni Moretti took top prize at Cannes last year for ****La Stanza Del Figlo*** (The Son's Room).