BEIJING, Aug. 30 -- A raft of Hollywood stars led by George Clooney, Gywneth Paltrow, Ralph Fiennes and Matt Damon are set to take Venice by storm Aug. 30 for the start of the 62nd international film festival, watched over by hundreds of counter-terrorism police.

    Last month's deadly attacks on the London transport system have caused security to be upgraded for the two-week ¡°Mostra,¡± whose director Marco Mueller acknowledged is a ¡°natural target for attack given the number of VIPs.¡±

    Divers will check the canal system around the Lido, which the stars will use to attend screenings, while ¡ª if some media reports are to be believed ¡ª snipers will be positioned on rooftops as Italy attempts to safeguard the world¡¯s oldest film festival from terrorist attacks.

    Cinephiles attending the festival will have to pass through metal detectors and leave their bags in special depositories outside theaters.

    Clooney¡¯s film ¡°Goodnight and Good Luck,¡± in which he costars with Robert Downey Jr., is one of 19 films in the running for the prestigious Golden Lion award for Best Film.

    Paltrow stars in ¡°Proof,¡± John Madden¡¯s love story about an enigmatic young woman who faces the challenges of a genius father and her manipulative sister.

    But the complete absence of Spanish and Latin American films from the official line-up for the Golden Lion has already caused uproar among filmmakers from those countries.

    ¡°What a disgrace,¡± said an indignant Argentine producer-director Pablo Torres Nilsson, who pointed out that Argentina produces some 60 films a year, almost as many as the average 80 a year produced by Italy or France, two countries well represented in the official competition.

    The 62nd Venice festival marks the return to film of eccentric Icelandic pop star Bjork, five years after a bust-up with ¡°Dancing in the Dark¡± director Lars Von Trier prompted her to say she would never make another film.

    This time she appears with her partner, the avant-garde filmmaker Matthew Barney, in the art-house film ¡°Drawing Restraint 9¡± for which Bjork wrote the soundtrack.

    Veteran Italian director Dante Ferretti heads a jury comprising Chinese writer Zhong Acheng, French filmmaker Claire Denis, German director Edgar Reitz, Icelandic musician and actress Emiliana Torrini and American producer Christine Vachon.

    Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli and Japanese animated film director Hayao Miyazaki will be presented with Golden Lions to mark their careers.Enditem

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)