Best of Venice Film Festival coming

HERE'S a dream come true for local cinephiles; the Venice Film Festival is coming to Singapore via a special edition of the upcoming 11th Italian Film Festival. More than 10 works that were shown in Venice last year will be screened. It's the first time the prestigious film event has been exported here after similar efforts in Brazil, Russia, China, Korea and Croatia.

The Venice Film Festival, which is part of the Venice Biennale, is one of the oldest and most iconic film festivals in the world. It's a glitzy event that attracts Hollywood A-listers like Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, who walked the red carpet last year when their sci-fi thriller, Gravity, was the opening film.

Veronica Manson, director of the Italian Cultural Institute, which organises the Italian Film Festival, reveals the idea of importing the event to Singapore popped up during a lunch meeting with one of the Biennale consultants. She says: "Singapore has a very attentive and sophisticated film audience and I thought it was a perfect match: the oldest and one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world in a young, vibrant and movie-loving city of Singapore."