Asian stars shine bright in Venice

ALL three Asian entries in the 51st Venice Film Festival came away with honours this week, a mark of the growing Asian onslaught on the international film market.

Taiwanese production Vive L'amour (Aiqing Wansui) from Tsai Ming-liang, one of those spearheading the second generation of the New Taiwanese Cinema, shared The Golden Lion for best film with Before The Rain, a Macedonian three-part tale by Milcho Manchevski. Both film-makers were also awarded the Fipresci international critics awards.

Vive L'amour, which focuses on urban despair and loneliness, is a cogent and stylised study of three young people in Taipei and was financed by subsidies from Taiwanese cinema owners, who did the same for Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet last year.

Mainland actor Xia Yu was a surprise choice for the Volpi Cup for best actor for his performance as the impetuous, love-struck teenager in In The Heat Of The Sun about street gang life in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. The film, flying under a Chinese-Hong Kong banner, also marked the directorial debut of Chinese actor Jiang Wen.

And, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai and camera man Christopher Doyle were honoured with the Osella d'Oro award for the cinematography of their visually striking costume drama Ashes Of Time. The film stars were a line-up of heavyweights such as Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Kar-fai.

Ashes Of Time, inspired by Jin Yong's popular costume drama novel The Eagle Shooting Hero, was reported to have been one of the most elaborate productions Venice had seen in a decade.

The heavily over-budget film, however, failed to impress the international jury headed by director David Lynch with its plot, which would hardly have been surprising, considering Wong took almost two years to complete it.