Young 'heroes' play bigger role at Venice Film Festival

"I was here for the past 20 editions, but I can say that I saw an extraordinary presence of children playing heroes this time," film critic Manuela Paixao Redmont told Xinhua Monday at the Venice Film Festival.

Paixao Redmont said some young characters greatly impressed her in the world premieres because she found a sort of guidance and salvation in their films.

Tye Sheridan, a 15-year-old American boy, stars in David Gordon Green's "Joe". Sheridan plays Gary Jones, an abused teenager who befriends ex-con Joe in a dirt-poor Texas town and between them seek a way forward against a backdrop of violence.

"In this film, which shows frequent eruptions of violence, the boy is the source of a gripping sense of redemption, which awakens in the protagonist a fierce and tender-hearted protector," the film critic said.

Four children also play heroes in Alexandros Avranas' deeply disturbing movie, "Miss Violence", in which a teenager finds the courage to reveal the terrible exploitation and manipulation carried out in her family.

"I am convinced that children really represent a hope for the future," Avranas told Xinhua. Working with them gave him joy and hope and it was adults' duty to "give them opportunities," he said.

The Greek director added he was very "honest and open" in telling the four children the truth about incest, prostitution and domestic violence at the center of the story.

"We decided to read the script also together with their parents, and they had the feeling that in fact they were helping others to stop doing this ... That was our hope, our motive," Avranas said.

Lucas Moodysson, director of "We are the best", a story of early teenage life starring three fierce-yet-fragile 13-year-old girls, echoed that thought: "I think that every good director is taking children seriously, and I am very proud of that tradition."

Though not real, the hero of Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "The Wind Rises," the last of the famous Japanese director's career, is a teenager, too.