Venice 2003

After what was widely regarded as a poor Cannes, this year's Venice Film Festival is largely living up to people's high expectations. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the world's longest running cinematic showcase, and what better way to begin than with a bit of tradition? Woody Allen's Anything Else, a sharp romantic comedy with political undertones, began proceedings in fine style. While Venice is the usual European launch-pad for his movies, Allen made his first ever appearance at the festival (as he did in Cannes last year with Hollywood Ending). While this might suggest that his recent run of bad form has meant he has been forced by new backers DreamWorks to tub-thump his films, in the case of Anything Else - in which he plays a paranoid mentor to Jason Biggs' hopeless romantic - he had no need.

One director who didn't make it was Oliver Stone, who was due to appear for Persona Non Grata, his second documentary this year. After his excellent Fidel Castro interview Comandante, this 60-minute examination of the Israeli-Palestine conflict is less cohesive, though it makes some headway in unravelling the complexities behind what is a highly-charged subject. Featuring the likes of Shimon Perez and Benjamin Netanyahu, the most potent interview is with three masked fighters from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade - of whom Stone, who features on camera throughout, amusingly enquires: "So you don't go round wearing masks all day, do you?"