BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Venice Film Festival, the oldest film event in Europe, opens on Wednesday. Faced with the global economic downturn, the festival director talks about his expectations for this year's event and the international film industry.

Second only to Cannes in terms of prestige, Venice has suffered since the economic downturn of 2008.

Many Hollywood producers prefer to show their films at a cheaper venue that overlaps with Venice, the Toronto Film Festival. But Festival Director Marco Mueller insists that his festival will only accept world premieres.

Marco Mueller, director of Venice Film Festival, said, "A lot of people now are counting on a two step operation where the visibility, the credibility of the film is built in Venice, Venice reveals the immediate aesthetical qualities of the film, or everything that makes this film very exciting. And Toronto reveals the market value of the film so, well that does define a context where in the future we should be able to work hand in hand."

Besides the usual fare from some usual film production areas like the US and Asia, this year's festival will also screen many entries from South America.

Marco Mueller said, "This year we have, the intimation that something is really happening in South American cinema. We have a lot of very bold, very robust films from South America."

Chinese action movie, "The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen", will be one of the opening films. The other is Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan." The 67th Venice Film Festival runs from September 1st to the 11th.