A slimmed-down lineup of 18 films will be competing for the Golden Lion award at the 69th edition of the world's oldest film festival, which runs from August 29 to Sept 8.

Malick, winner of the Cannes film festival's Golden Palm award for his epic "The Tree of Life" in 2011, brings a romantic story of refound love to the Lido, while veteran U.S. director De Palma's "Passion" is a murderous tale of revenge.

Other films in the Competition section include Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers" starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, Ramin Bahrani's "At Any Price" with Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid and Takeshi Kitano's latest offer "Outrage Beyond".

Only 17 films were announced at a news conference in Rome on Friday but the 18th entrant will be announced later.

Artistic director Alberto Barbera promised a "more sober, less glitzy" event for the 69th edition. "I had promised to reduce the number of films and I've kept that promise, more or less, apart from a few small exceptions," he said.

Mira Nair's thriller "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", about the conflict of loyalties facing a young Pakistani man working on Wall Street, will open the festival.

Spike Lee's "Bad 25", a documentary about the late Michael Jackson and Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep", with Julie Christie, are among films showing outside the main competition.

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala)

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