Young 'heroes' play bigger role at Venice Film Festival(2)

Inspired by Italian aeronautical designer Gianni Caproni, this challenger for the top Golden Lion prize tells the story of young Jiro Horikoshi, who dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes.

Nearsighted and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company. His genius and innovation are soon recognized, leading the aviation world into the future.

Monday was also a big day for 24-year-old Xavier Dolan, the youngest director at the festival, who was born in Montreal and wrote his first script when he was 16.

Again, the main character of his film "Tom a la ferme" is a young advertising copywriter.

In this film, the hero, Tom, travels to the countryside for a funeral and is shocked to find nobody knows who he is, nor his relationship to the deceased.

In its 70th year, the Venice International Film Festival opened Wednesday on the Italian city's Lido island.

Four international juries will assign the official awards. The competition section of Venezia 70, which includes 20 titles competing for the Golden Lion prize, is chaired by Bernardo Bertolucci, one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema.

In celebration of its venerable anniversary, the festival also created the special project, "Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded", a composition of short films created by 70 movie directors from all over the world.