FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Fiat and Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne said the euro single currency system could be derailed unless European leaders resolved the debt crisis.

Marchionne said markets were showing little confidence in Europe’s ability to draw a line under the crisis, which has spread to his homeland Italy after engulfing Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

FRANKFURT, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Fiat CEO Sergio
Marchionne warned that the euro single currency system could “go
off the rails” unless European leaders effectively resolve the
current debt crisis.

Marchionne, who also runs Chrysler, said the markets were
showing little confidence in Europe’s ability to draw a line
under the crisis, which has spread to his homeland Italy after
engulfing Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – Highbrow trumped Hollywood at the Venice film festival this year, with Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s demanding German-language “Faust” taking top prize and Roman Polanski and George Clooney overlooked.

Most prizes at Saturday’s closing ceremony went to less-than-familiar names and faces, with the exception of rising Irish star Michael Fassbender’s best actor award for “Shame.”

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – - Russian film “Faust,” loosely based on Goethe’s classic German text, won the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

The movie, directed by the revered Alexander Sokurov, divided critics at the annual cinema showcase, but had been among the favorites to scoop the coveted top prize.

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – The 18-day uprising that ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is at the center of “Tahrir 2011,” a documentary named after the Cairo square that became a gathering point for protesters which premieres at the Venice film festival.

The film is divided into three chapters — The Good, The Bad and The Politician — each handled by a different director and focusing respectively on the demonstrators, police forces and Mubarak.

VENICE, Italy, Sept 9 (Reuters) – The Venice film festival
launched a series of strong movies in 2011, including several
early Oscar contenders, but critics said the cinema showcase
lacked a standout contender for the Golden Lion award.

Madonna, George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon were
among the A-listers to walk the red carpet, giving Venice the
visibility it needs to compete with other festivals around the
world.

VENICE (Reuters) – Hollywood heartthrob Matthew McConaughey ditches romantic comedy in modern-day Western “Killer Joe,” a film in competition at the Venice festival in which he plays a twisted detective who doubles as a hitman.

In the film, McConaughey is Joe Cooper, a sultry Dallas sheriff who is hired by broke drug dealer Chris to kill his mother for her $50,000 life insurance policy.

VENICE (Reuters) – “Wuthering Heights” male protagonist Heathcliff is portrayed by a black actor for the first time in Andrea Arnold’s remake of one of English literature’s best-known classics, screening in competition at the Venice film festival.

The choice will probably not surprise fans of Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel, where the homeless boy found by a Yorkshire farmer who then falls desperately in love with his daughter Cathy is described as a “dark-skinned gypsy in aspect” — although his ethnicity is still the subject of debate.

VENICE (Reuters) – A turn as a sex-obsessed New Yorker has made Michael Fassbender a firm favorite for the best actor award at the Venice film festival, capping what reviewers call a breakthrough year for the 34-year-old Irishman.

Fassbender had already impressed film critics with his interpretation of one of the fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung, in “A Dangerous Method,” also in competition at the Venice movie showcase.

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – Immigration in Italy is a big theme at the Venice film festival this year, with several home-grown movies taking a critical look at how the country’s authorities and its people are struggling to deal with a growing wave of newcomers.

The issue could hardly be more topical in a year when tens of thousands of illegal immigrants fleeing political turmoil in North Africa and civil war in Libya have arrived in Italy and hundreds more have drowned at sea.