Mueller gets Chinese Friendship award

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Awards News

Marco Mueller, artistic director of the Venice festival, is to receive a Friendship Award from China for his services to Chinese cinema.

A ceremony will take place in Rome tomorrow where the award will be presented by China's prime minister Wen Jiabao.

Mueller was one of the first westerners to organise a major exhibition of Chinese film and has consistently programmed Chinese films during his tenures at Rotterdam, Locarno and Venice.

He has written scholarly articles on Chinese cinema and co-produced several films including Zhang Yuan's (張元) Little Red Flowers (看上去很美).

"The vitality of Chinese film no longer needs confirmation. Even the casual spectator, who happened by chance to view the final rebounds of the great martial arts cinema, can clearly see why: a plastic sense that is constantly regenerated, stylistic elements that remain personal, aesthetic experimentation that never wanes. China has had and still has many directors today who are able to work with tradition in order to renew it," said Mueller in a statement. "In Italy, we have enjoyed a privileged position in developing an understanding of China through its films. ... This desire for research and information was shared by the Silent Film Festival in Pordenone, the Far East Film Festival in Udine, and obviously, by the Venice International Film Festival."

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