Ang Lee is to head the jury for the 2009 Venice Film Festival organisers have announced.
In recent years the Taiwanese born director has been one of the festival's most successful filmmakers picking up the main prize twice.
In 2005 Lee's cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain collected the Golden Lion he then repeated that feat two years later with Lust, Caution.
This year he will chair the panel that makes the decisions over the awards winners. Last year the festival came under some criticism for being somewhat lacklustre however The Wrestler was one of the films that shone.
The film, which stars Mickey Rourke, picked up the Golden Lion gong and went on to pick up support on the festival circuit.
On the event's website Lee was praise as "one of the most highly appreciated international film makers".
"He is one of the most successful directors in creating a dialogue between the film-making culture of the East and West."
Lee made a name for himself when he adapted Emma Thompson's adaptation of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility, a film which catapulted Kate Winslet to fame.
But it was his martial arts movie in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in 2001 that cemented him as a visionary filmmaker. The movie went on to pick up four Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film and a Best Picture nod.
The festival will kick off on 2nd September and will run to the 12th.
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