Venice, Rome duelling over film fests
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The world's oldest running film festival, the Venice Biennale, is used to imitators. But this year, the upstarts are just a little too close to home.
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Many film stars embarking on their seventh decade have been known to have a facelift. But the Venice film festival&#39;s make-over attempts are proving more controversial than most.
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VENICE, Italy - Al Pacino growls, grimaces and demands a "pound of flesh" as Jewish moneylender Shylock in a new version of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." But the actor argued Saturday that the film successfully addresses long-standing controversy over the work's anti-Semitism.    Director Michael Radford - speaking to reporters after the film's screening at the Venice Film Festival - added that his picture shouldn't be seen as a tale just about tensions between Christians and Jews, but as a comment on the very modern problem of two cultures at odds...
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The guessing game is almost over at the Venice film festival, where few clear frontrunners for the Golden Lion award for best picture have emerged ahead of the prize ceremony on Saturday evening. By the end of the annual 11-day marathon of movies, press conferences, interviews and parties, critics and journalists normally agree on a handful of films they think could win the top honor, although their predictions are not always correct.
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When American film maker Quentin Tarantino called today's Italian cinema "depressing", many in the industry hoped the Venice film festival would prove him wrong.
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With a strong American presence at this year's Venice International Film Festival, it didn't take long for U.S. politics to rear its controversial head.
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Periodically, St Mark's Square in Venice is flooded by spring tides. On Friday night it was inundated with Hollywood executives and movie stars for the first film premiere to be staged in the historic piazza.
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VENICE, Italy  - Fluid motion and glorious colors provide a visual treat in Jiang Wen's sumptuous romantic fantasy "The Sun Also Rises," which screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival.
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"Lost in Translation" star Scarlett Johansson came to the Venice Film Festival to promote her latest picture, but found herself fending off romantic advances.
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Italians are bracing themselves for  blood on the red carpet as Rome launches its own film festival  next month in what many see as a challenge to Venice.
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Venice Film Festival  organizers suspended a war of words with their upcoming Rome  rival as this year's event kicked off in low-key fashion  Wednesday with the world premiere of Brian De Palma's murder  mystery "The Black Dalhia."
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Dark tales of real-life crime dominate  Hollywood's star-studded assault on the Venice Film Festival  this year, with U.S. directors drawing inspiration from murder  mysteries of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
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The Rome Film Festival opened its second edition Thursday, harkening back to the Eternal City's 1960s cinematic heyday.
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Actor Robert De Niro and the growing   Tribeca Film Festival he founded gave support on Thursday to   Rome's new international film competition ahead of its debut in   mid-October.
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Venice's film festival pays tribute to spaghetti westerns this year by screening more than 30 films celebrating the interpretation of a quintessentially American genre by Italian directors 40 years ago.
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ROME Sept. 12, 2004 - Italian media grumbled Sunday over the failure of a hometown film to win big prizes at the Venice Film Festival, where the British movie &quot;Vera Drake&quot; by director Mike Leigh grabbed the best-picture award.
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The guessing game is almost over at the  Venice film festival, where few clear frontrunners for the  Golden Lion award for best picture have emerged ahead of the  prize ceremony on Saturday evening. By the end of the annual  11-day marathon of movies, press conferences, interviews and  parties, critics and journalists normally agree on a handful of  films they think could win the top honor, although their  predictions are not always correct.