American Director Wins in Venice

V E N I C E, Italy Sept. 9 -- The Circle, a dark Iranian movie about the oppression of women, won the Golden Lionaward for best film at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

The movie, directed by Jafar Panahi, emerged as a clearcritics’ favorite after its screening earlier this week.

It tells the story of the daily lives of eight women in acountry where they are not allowed to smoke in public, stay in ahotel on their own, or ride in a car driven by a man who isn’t a relative.

“Obviously the film met with a few problems as we weremaking it,” Panahi told a news conference after he accepted theprize. “It was born after a long labor and I wouldn’t want togo through it again. But I’m happy to have given birth to thisfilm.”

It starts in a delivery room, where the birth of a daughteris greeted with disappointment by relatives, and ends in prisonwhere the paths of the eight women finally cross.

“I got the idea for the film from a story in a newspaperabout a woman who killed her two daughters and then committedsuicide,” the director said this week.

“There was nothing about the reasons for the crime. Perhapsthe newspaper did not see the need … since the freedom of womenis so limited it seems as if they are in a big prison.”

The film was made with money from Italian and French backersand partly financed by Panahi himself.

Julian Schnabel Director Kudos U.S. painter and director Julian Schnabel took home the JuryGrand Prix for best director for Before Night Falls, a movietracking the life of gay Cuban novelist and poet ReinaldoArenas, a victim of Cuban censors.

“This is unbelievable for me, I’m speechless — and that’svery rare for me,” Schnabel joked as he accepted the award,wearing a sarong and a sports jacket over an open-necked shirt.

“I’m a painter, so it’s an honor for me to share the stagewith these great directors.”