What made waves in Venice?

by ISOBEL FOX, femail.co.uk

Hollywood heavyweights rubbed shoulders with virtual unknowns at the Venice Film Festival last week where a British director was given top movie honours.

Scottish movie mogul Peter Mullan won the Golden Lion for Best Film award for The Magdalene Sisters, a controversial movie about an Irish convent.

But there were many other gems to come out of the ten-day festival, which featured more than 75 movies and dozens of short films.

Here's our guide to the films that really made waves in Venice - and what to expect when they reach a cinema near you. You can click on the picture gallery link, right, to get a sneak peak.

THE MAGDALENE SISTERS

Starring: Anne-Marie Duff, Dorothy Duffy, Gerladine McEwan

Directed by: Peter Mullan

What's it about?: A hard-hitting portrayal of life in an Irish Catholic Convent in the 1960s, it tells the story of the physical and mental abuse meted out by the nuns to their 'wards'. According to Mullan's film, young women were imprisoned and tormented in the convents for inhumane reasons, such as having been raped or having a child out of wedlock.

Release date: Spring 2003

FAR FROM HEAVEN

Starrring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid

Directed by: Todd Haynes

What's it about ? : Set in 1950s America, Julianne Moore - who won a Best Actress award at the festival - is seemingly the perfect housewife living the perfect family life. But when a sudden affair takes her by storm, her whole world is turned upside down as she finds out the secret her husband's hiding and strikes up a relationship with her African-American gardener.

Release date: Early 2003

THE ROAD TO PERDITION

Starring: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law

Directed by: Sam Mendes

What's it about?: Already tipped for Oscar glory, British director Sam Mendes's film is set in 1930s Depression-hit America. It examines the relationship between a hitman (Hanks) and his son after his son discovers what his father actually does for a living. Hanks' character finds himself on the run with his older son after his wife and younger son are killed by assassins.

Release date: Although a UK release date has not been finalised, the movie made its debut in the States on July 21 so look out for it here towards the end of the year.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS

Starring: Audrey Tatou, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Directed by: Stephen Frears

What's it about?: Audrey Tatou of Amelie fame stars in her first English speaking roll in this suspense-fuelled mystery. After discovering evidence of a murder in an up-market London hotel, a Nigerian night porter (Ejiofor) teams up with a Turkish chambermaid (Tautou) to solve the crime - and finds out the hotel is the centre of an illegal organ transplant scam run by their unscrupulous boss Sneaky.

Release date: Provisional date April 2003

Click below for more hot releases from Venice.

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