Two of Japan�s movies have been nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the 67th Venice Film Festival. The festival will start September 1, 2010.

The first one is �Norwegian Wood� directed by Tran Anh Hung. The movie is based off of best selling selling author in Japan, Haruki Murakami. The second movie is �13 Assassins�, by the controversial director Takashi Miike.

"Norwegian Wood" is a love story, a man trying to over the death of his best friend. �13 Assassins� is a period drama where samurai are hired to assassinate the brother of a shogun. "13 Assassins" is based on a true incident and has been called an "epic samurai bloodbath" by the

The Venice Film Festival is one of the three most highly regarded film festivals in the world. Quentin Tarantino is a chair on the award committee.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ILO2RWhEw

The other nominees:
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky, U.S. (Opening Film)
"La Pecora Nera," Ascanio Celestini, Italy
"Somewhere," Sofia Coppola, U.S.
"Happy Few," Antony Cordier, France
"The Solitude of Prime Numbers," Saverio Costanzo, Italy, Germany, France
"Silent Souls," Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
"Promises Written in Water," Vincent Gallo, U.S.
"Road To Nowhere," Monte Hellman, U.S.
"Balada Triste de Trompeta," Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, France
"Venus Noir," Abdellatif Kechiche, France
"Post Mortem," Pablo Larrain, Chile, Mexico, Germany
"Barney's Version," Richard J. Lewis, Canada, Italy
"We Believed," Mario Martone, Italy, France
"La Passione," Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
"Potiche," Francois Ozon, France
"Meek's Cutoff," Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
"Miral," Julian Schnabel, U.S., France, Italy, Israel
"Attenberg," Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
"Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame," Tsui Hark, China
"Three," Tom Tykwer, Germany

Other Japanese directors, Akira Kurosawa won for �Rashomon� and Takeshi Kitano won for �HANA-BI.� Also, "Takashi Shimizu�s (�Ju-on � The Grudge�) "Shock Labyrinth 3D" � Asia�s first 3D horror flick, will also be screened out of competition."

source: mainichi, thr