Aleksander Sokurov's 'Faust' wins Golden Lion in Venice

Many critics and pundits had feared rather than predicted that Aleksander Sokurov's take on Goethe's Faust could walk home with this year's top trophy at the Venice Film Festival and, to the dismay of many, it did. The jury, chaired by Darren Aronofsky, chose Faust over much better received films like Steve McQueen's Shame, Yorgos Lanthimos's Alps, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights or Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, all part of a competition strand that Aranofsky himself called "exhilarating and maddening".

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'The Ides of March' kicks off the 68th Venice Film Festival

George Clooney's political drama The Ides of March will officially open the 68th edition of the Venice Film Festival tonight, just after the opening ceremony which will take place at the Lido's Sala Grande at 7 pm.

The film is a screen adaptation, co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, of Beau Willimon's stage-play Farragut North, which was based on Willimon's experience as an aide during the unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat politician Howard Dean. It features an all-star cast which includes director Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.

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