Venice, August 30
As part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the Venice film festival Taiwanese director Ang Lee's steamy spy thriller 'Se, Jie' (Lust, Caution) was to be unveiled. British director Kenneth Branagh's 'Sleuth' starring Michael Caine and Jude Law was also on the list.
Wednesday's sparkling opening gala of the festival, which runs till September 8, saw the world premiere of British psychological drama 'Atonement' with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Based on the best-selling novel by Ian McEwan, the movie follows the consequences of an impressionable girl's tragic misreading of events at an upper-class English home in the years leading up to World War II.
The festival also boasts of a sizeable Asian contingent, leading with Oscar-winning Lee's 'Se, Jie' (Lust, Caution) despite the domination of British and US entries this year - nine of the 22 candidates for the Golden Lion in the main competition.
Set in Shanghai in the 1940s, the movie is based on a short story by Eileen Chang. "No story of Eileen Chang's is as beautiful or as cruel as 'Se, Jie,'" said Lee, whose 'Brokeback Mountain took the top prize in Venice in 2005. Festival director Marco Mueller let drop on Wednesday that the 'surprise film' to be screened next week would be from an Asian country.
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