Venice 2008.

Ryder Mejia

03 September 2008

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman are just some of the stars attending the 65th Venice Film Holiday . John Landis engaged in an animated discuss, regardless of his wounds As I was leaving the awards, I bumped into Hollywood director John Landis, who is serving on this year's global jury. Screening here in a revived print, this black-and-white classic tells of a humble bill poster who goes on a classic search with his young boy to recover his thieved bike. Valentino's Venice store has been transformed into an advert for his film so many classic photos have been shot in Venice over time it actually feels like one giant picture set.

As I made my way to St Mark's Square and the vaporetto back to the Lido, I discovered my old mate Valentino was using his store front to pump his documentary. Set in and around a Parisian residence block, the film explores the lives of a black single pa and his teen child as they are facing the possibility of a future apart. A crime drama of sorts, it tells of an ageing black marketeer, originally from China, whose sweet trade in counterfeit products is under threat from both the authorities and rival mafia. "How much moulah do you have?" The bold man was told he was "cute" but that Theron's partner, Irish actor Stuart Townsend, would have something to point out to him if he endured. It does not take long, though, for this stern experiment to become an endurance test - one that was obviously too much for the handfuls of folks who walked from this afternoon's screening. Having been informed by his late dad that he has got a present, the lead personality - played by 3 actors, one of them Kitano himself - spends his life attempting to prove that prediction correct. Having queued twenty mins to get in and another thirty for the talent to arrive, I was hoping I'd have something more important to report at the end of it. Tilda is just in the city for some days but is expecting to catch Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the newest feature from Jap anime guru Hayao Miyazaki, whilst she is here.

Found on the Lido, the thin strip of land and sand that separates traditional Venice from the Adriatic, the Palazzo del Theatre is an imposing edifice that goes back to Mussolini's day.