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Venice closes, Chinese movie among top tips
1999-09-12
VENICE, Italy - The Venice film festival closes on Saturday with award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou's "Not One Less" among the top tips to win the prestigious Golden Lion prize. Other films seen in the running include Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's "Le Vent Nous Emportera" (The Wind Will Carry Us) and Belgian director Frederic Fonteyne's "Une Liaison Pornographique" (A Pornographic Affair). The jury, headed by Bosnian film maker Emir Kusturica, will announce their decisions at a closing ceremony at 6:45 p.m. (1645 GMT). As well as the film, director and actors' awards, there will also be a prize for the best first film, open to all films shown at the festival, not just the 18 movies in competition. Antonio Banderas is eligible for both for his debut as a director with "Crazy in Alabama," an engaging tale of a zany woman set against the civil strife in the southern America of the 1960s. Critics loved Zhang Yimou's beautifully shot tale of a child thrust into the job of schoolteacher in a remote village and charged with the task of ensuring that no more children leave. The director, who won a Golden Lion for "The Story of Qui Ju" in 1992, said he had long thought about making a film about schools in China. His tale -- which used real people doing what they do in real life instead of actors -- had a real-life happy ending when donations poured in to revamp the school where the film was set. Another Chinese film, "Seventeen Years" by Zhang Yuan won a long standing ovation at its public screening. The film, which the Chinese authorities censored but have refused to recognise officially, portrays a painful reunion between a woman who has served 17 years in jail for killing her stepsister and her parents. It was also the first time cameras were allowed inside a real Chinese jail. Cannes-winner Kiarostami married elegant photography with a simple plot, also using local villagers for his tale, set in the Kurdish part of Iran, of a group of people from Tehran who search for something that is never explained. Other highly-rated movies include "Une Liaison Pornographique" which followed in the vein of the recurring theme of this year's festival -- sex. Nathalie Baye was praised for her portrayal of a woman who embarks on an affair to fulfil a sexual fantasy and soon falls in love. New Zealand-born director Jane Campion showed her latest film, "Holy Smoke," starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel, about a young Australian girl who comes under the spell of a guru during a trip to India. The shock-film of the competition, South Korean movie "Gojitmal" (Lies) by Jang Sun-woo, showed graphic scenes of sadomasochistic sex but many critics found it dull. Other popular films included "The Cider House Rules," by Oscar-nominated Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom and "Jesus' Son," an independent movie by Canadian-born director Alison Maclean. Veteran American comic actor and director, Jerry Lewis, will be presented with a Golden Lion for his career achievements and the festival will end with a sneak preview of Martin Scorsese's unfinished personal tribute to Italian cinema.
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