MUMBAI: Mira Nair‘s latest film The Reluctant Fundamentalist will open the 69th Venice International Film Festival that will run from 29 August to 8 September this year.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same title, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an international political thriller that follows the story of a young Pakistani man, chasing corporate success on Wall Street, who ultimately finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis and the enduring call of his family‘s homeland.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which screens out of competition, stars Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Haluk Bilginer and Meesha Shafi. The film was shot in the cities of Lahore, Delhi, Istanbul, New York and Atlanta.

Mira Nair, Golden Lion winner in 2001 for Monsoon Wedding, returns to the Venice Film Festival for her fifth time after having participated in 1991 with Mississippi Masala, in 2002 with the episode from the collective film 11‘09‘01 and in 2004 in Competition with Vanity Fair.