The Italian journalists so far think that George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck is the best film in the international competition but the journalists don’t select the awards. Still, often what film critics think turns out to be right. Add to the list Fernando Meirelles' The Constant Gardener , screened today at the fest, another strong contender for the Lion. The Venezia 62 international jury is composed of the Chinese scriptwriter and author Acheng, French filmmaker Claire Denis, Israeli ...

The Festival takes part in the Year of China as one of its very first events. This an opportunity to know more about a cinema which still has a few surprises in store for us, especially as regards the flourishing period prior to the Communist take-over in 1949. Until then China went through troubled times, with the Japanese invasion (in 1931) which fostered civil war. In spite of such a context, pre-1949 Chinese cinema was very active. It started developing in Shanghai in the 1920s, especially a...