 Chinese director Zhang Yimou (3rd L) attends the opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festival 2007 in Venice, Italy, Aug. 29, 2007. Zhang has been chosen to head an all-director jury at this year's Venice Film Festival opened here on Wednesday. Creative tension was in the air yesterday as the 75th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival kicked off with the psychological drama "Atonement" by Britain's Joe Wright. Based on the best-selling novel by Ian McEwan and starring Keira Knightley, whom Wright also directed in "Pride and Prejudice," the film also features Vanessa Redgrave, 70, who plays Knightley's character in later years. Also yesterday, Taiwan's Ang Lee unveiled his greatly anticipated erotic spy thriller "Lust, Caution," set in 1940s' Shanghai. This year's Mostra, which runs through Sept. 8, has a bumper crop of American and British selections, while also remaining true to its tradition of showcasing Asian cinema. Nine of the 22 films in the main competition are British or American, Jiang Wen will offer "The Sun Also Rises," a quartet of stories that dovetail in the end. From Japan there is Miike Takashi's "Sukiyaki Western Django," a complex tale of dirty tricks, betrayal, desire and love. All 22 of the films in competition will be world premieres, a feat achieved only once before -- last year. Another 22 films will vie for prizes in the avant-garde Horizons and Horizons Documentaries categories, while 13 will be screened out of competition. George Clooney stars in "Michael Clayton" by Tony Gilroy, while Brad Pitt plays Jesse James in Andrew Dominik's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Contemporary life and war are common threads to many of this year's selections. The war in Iraq inspired Brian De Palma's "Redacted," which portrays the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager by U.S. soldiers, as well as Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," in which a career military man played by Tommy Lee Jones investigates the disappearance of his son, a soldier in Iraq. Co-starring with Jones are Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron. The out-of-competition menu will offer Woody Allen's latest film "Cassandra's Dream," a drama set in south London, "La Fille Coupee en Deux" by French veteran Claude Chabrol and a new comedy by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano, "Kantoku Banzai!" (Glory to the Filmmaker!). Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who won Golden Lions for "The Story of Qiu Ju" (1992) and "Not One Less" (1999), will head the jury of this year's edition of the Mostra. 2007-08-30 |
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