ASIAN directors were gratified to win a handful of prizes in the 59th Venice Film Festival.

　　Although the Gold Lion for best picture was taken by British director Peter Mullan in The Magdalene Sisters, Asian films made a good showing.

　　This year nine Asian films competed in the Venice Film Festival, including six Chinese-language movies. The Chinese-language films were widely recognized in the festival, although The Best of Times, by Taiwan director Zhang Zuoji, was the only Chinese-language film to vie for the best foreign language film award.

　　The Upstream prize for the best innovative films was won by Springtime in a Small Town, by Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang, while the award for best young actor went to South Korea’s Moon So-ri for her role in Oasis. Oasis also garnered an award for best director.

　　Illusion Tribe by Taiwan director Zheng Wentang and Public Toilet by Hong Kong director Chen Guo, both went home with a prize for special recommend and prize for best film.

　　A jury member said that it was unfortunate that Missing Gun didn’t fetch a prize, because actor Jiang Wen’s performance was very impressive.

　　The jury president, Gong Li, the famous Chinese actress, said she was satisfied with the results and is happy to see so many excellent movies being made.

　　(Zhang Zhiyong)