ROME - Taiwanese director Lee Ang, a two-time Golden Lion winner at the Venice film festival, will chair the international jury of this year's festival in September, the organisers said Friday.

Lee, who bagged the top award in 2005 for "Brokeback Mountain" and was honoured again in 2007 for "Lust, Caution," is "one of the most successful directors in creating a dialogue between the film-making culture of east and west," a statement said.

It said the Oscar-winning Lee was "one of the most successful directors in recent years."

He will head the jury responsible for awarding the Golden Lion and other prizes.

"Brokeback Mountain" recounts the doomed love story of two cowboys while "Lust, Caution" is a spy thriller set in Shanghai in the 1940s.

- AFP /ls