A jury led by acclaimed US director Darren Aronofsky will on Saturday award the Golden Lion to one of 23 films vying for the festival's top prize. The Silver Lion for best director, Volpi prizes for best actor and actress and a special jury prize were among the awards being debated ahead of the ceremony, which begins at 7:00 P.M. (1700 GMT) at the Lido's Palazzo del Cinema. French-Polish director Roman Polanski's grotesque comedy of manners “Carnage” leads the pack for the Golden Lion according to an index of 21 European and North American media outlets by the festival's Variety magazine. The film's tale about two sets of parents who meet up after their children fight sees electric performances from a-listers Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christopher Waltz, and also tops the popular vote online. Close behind comes George Clooney's political thriller “The Ides of March,” starring Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Steve McQueen's graphic tale of sexual obsession, “Shame”, with Michael Fassbender, is also considered a strong contender. Critics also favour the chances of William Friedkin's dark comedy “Killer Joe” and Alexander Sokurov's “Faust”, as well as Andrea Arnold's enchanting adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” and Todd Solondz's satire, “Dark Horse.” There is an outside chance that one of the films most disparaged by critics — such as Wei Te-Shen's warrior movie “Seediq Bale” or Cristina Comencini's cliched romance “When The Night” — could surprise by stealing the prize.
