THE RED carpet at the Palazzo del Cinema is vacuumed in time for the opening of the 64th Venice Film Festival.

Lav Diaz, the Filipino filmmaker known for his audacious, marathon films such as “Batang Westside” and “Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino,” gets the closing night honors in the festival’s Horizons (Documentary) section.

The running time of his latest masterpiece, “Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga Engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos)”? Oh, just a mere nine hours.

Editor’s note: Photo by Ruben V. Nepales