Ang Lee to head Venice Film Fest jury

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee will head the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Organizers announced Friday that Taiwanese-born Lee, who twice won the Venice festival's prestigious Golden Lion award, has been named president of the international jury of the world's oldest film competition. He will be responsible for awarding the Golden Lion and other prizes.

"Ang Lee is one of the most successful directors in creating a dialogue between the filmmaking culture of the East and West, and is one of the most highly awarded directors of recent years," the organizers said in a statement.

In 2005, Lee won the Golden Lion for the gay cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain, for which he also won an Oscar for best director. And he won the Golden Lion again in 2007 for the thriller Lust, Caution.

He is currently in contract negotiations to direct the movie adaptation of Canadian author Yan Martel's bestselling novel Life of Pi.

Lee is also completing work on his film Taking Woodstock, about the 1969 Woodstock Festival. 

The 66th Venice Film Festival will run Sept. 2 to 12.