Festival Will Run From September 1-11 At Venice Lido#
Tomorrow, the 67th annual Venice International Film Festival will kick off in Italy, featuring films from some 34 countries, up from 27 last year. As the New York Times points out today, at this year's festival "there will be 79 world premieres in the four official sections, chosen from 2,395 feature films from 102 countries — there were 74 in 2009 — with 34 countries making the final lists." Although the U.S. accounts for the largest non-Italian contingent, with 19 American films taking part, this year seven Chinese films will be shown at the festival, with one -- Tsui Hark's “Dr. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame” -- in competition.
The other Chinese films that will be shown in Venice are Huang Wenhai's Qiao (Crust) and Xifang qu ci bu yuan (Reconstructing Faith), Stanley Kwan's Yongxin tiao (Showtime), Xun Sun's 21 ke (21 Grams), John Woo and Su Chao-Pin's Jianyu (Reign of Assassins) and Zhang Yuan's Taikong xia (Space Guy).
In addition to having his new film Reign of Assassins shown at the festival, this year John Woo will receive the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Woo will be presented with the award on September 3 at his film's debut at the festival's main venue, the Sala Grande.