American film director Michael Mann, best known for the box office hits Last of the Mohicans, Heat and Collateral, will head up the juryat this year’s edition of the Venice Film Festival.

“Michael Mann – a total film-maker and one of the most influential and representative figures in contemporary American cinema – has been designated to chair the International Jury for the Competition,” organisers said.

Mann “developed his own very personal style in thematic and formal elaborations drawn prevalently from the American urban experience, becoming established as one of the greatest innovators working in American cinema.”

It will be the first time that Mann chairs the jury of an international festival.

The 69th edition will run from August 29 to September 8 this year.

As well as directing, Mann has produced a series of big earners, including Aviator, Hancock and last year’s Texas Killing Fields, directed by his daughter Ami Canaan Mann, which played out of competition in Venice.