Steve McQueen wins at Venice

Steve McQueen (pictured), the 1999 Turner Prize-winning artist, further established his credentials as a film-maker by picking up the prestigious Gucci Group Award for his movie Hunger at the Venice Film Festival. It had already won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in May. However, the success of the film, which concerns the final weeks in the life of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, is unlikely to be the cause of too much celebration for McQueen's fellow artist Sam Taylor-Wood, who has also turned to film-making.

Says The First Post's source: "Sam was up the short film Palme d'Or prize at Cannes this year and friends say that one of the reasons she didn't win was because the judges couldn't be seen to be rewarding two directors who are better known as artists." However, T-W could still win out. As reported here last week, she has been chosen to direct a movie about the early life of John Lennon.

Meanwhile, critics at Venice appear united on two things – that this year’s line-up of movies is generally weak and that the cost of visiting the festival has become extortionate. As a result of the weak dollar and strong euro, a water taxi from the airport now costs a visitor from Hollywood more than $150, a simple bowl of pasta is as much as $25. "The conditions this year certainly make you wonder about how important having a big presence in Venice actually is," an official from a US-based studio told the Hollywood Reporter, which claims these and other problems are sparking discussion about Venice’s place in the pantheon of film festivals.

Riccardo Tozzi, founder of Rome's Cattleya Studios, agrees: "Venice has always had infrastructure problems, limited space, high costs. Venice’s strength has always been the line-up. An off year is felt more in Venice than in other festivals." ·