Venice Film Festival to open with Mira Nair's 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' Mira Nair, with the Golden Lion award she received for "Monsoon Wedding" in 2001, will see her latest movie open this year's Venice Film Festival. Gabriel Bouys / AFP / July 22, 2012 July 22, 2012, 3:30 p.m. Mira Nair's political thriller "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" will open the 69th annual Venice Film Festival, organizers announced Sunday. The film, the fifth by Nair to be shown at the festival, will screen Aug. 29 following the opening ceremony. Based on the bestselling novel of the same title, the film centers on a Pakistani man (played by Riz Ahmed) caught between his professional Wall Street ambitions, a hostage crisis and homeland loyalty in a post-9/11 world. The film also features Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber. The Indian-born filmmaker's most recent work to screen at the festival, which wraps its fun on Sept. 8, was her 2004 feature "Vanity Fair," starring Reese Witherspoon. In 2001, Nair won the festival's Golden Lion prize with the family drama "Monsoon Wedding." George Clooney's "The Ides of March" opened the star-studded film festival last year. The full programming lineup for this year's showcase is scheduled to be released July 26. The imaginary sidekick Collectible 'Star Wars' posters up for grabs Outfest awards 'Keep the Lights On' with two top prizes