French film star Fanny Ardant arrived at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday amid continuing polemics over her recent expressions of admiration for the Red Brigades, Italy's far-left terrorist movement, and its founder.
A right-wing action group said it would stage a protest against the actress during the Thursday night screening of an Italian film co-starring Ardant which is competing at the festival.
Ardant told reporters here that she had been surprised by the angry reactions to her Red Brigades comments, for which she has since apologised.
"I didn't expect such polemics but I don't mind because I think freedom of expression is very healthy... As long as we have the freedom to speak, the world is doing okay," she said.
"I'm here to defend a film which I believe in. My position is not political - I'm an actress here for the festival," added Ardant, who briefly considered cancelling her trip here.
The 58-year-old French actress triggered the row last month by telling an Italian magazine: "I have always considered the Red Brigades phenomenon very absorbing and passionate".
"Renato Curcio is a hero for me," said the actress, referring to the leftist militant who founded the Red Brigades in 1970.
Ardant praised Curcio for remaining true to his left-wing ideals.
She said he "didn't become a businessman" like his French left-wing contemporaries.
The Red Brigades, Italy's most infamous far-left terrorist group, spread terror in the 1970s and 1980s. Their most notorious act was the 1978 murder of Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro.
Curcio, 65, was captured in 1976 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for crimes committed by his organisation. He himself never killed anyone.
He was released from prison in 1993 and now runs a small leftwing publishing company.
Curcio has not expressed remorse for his former activities.
The family of the Red Brigades' first victim, Giuseppe Mazzola, is now suing Ardant.
Relatives of Mazzola, a neofascist militant who was killed by the terrorists in June 1974, said it was their "duty" to sue Ardant for praising a murderer.
Ardant's comments also drew angry criticism from members of Italy's centre-right opposition, some of whom said she should stay away from the Venice fest.
Other critics shocked by the actress's words said she should be introduced to the families of Red Brigade victims while in Venice.
Ardant subsequently apologised in an interview with Italian state broadcaster RAI.
"My words have caused suffering to those who have already suffered and whose wounds have not yet healed, and for that I apologise," she said.
Giuseppe Mazzola's son Piero dismissed Ardant's apology as too "vague".
COOL RECEPTION FOR ARDANT'S FILM.
Meanwhile, Vincenzo Marra's L'Ora di Punta (Rush Hour) starring Ardant and Michele Lastella was given a cool reception at a preview screening for the press on Thursday morning.
The film explores an obsession with money and power in contemporary Italian society with Lastella playing a corrupt tax policeman in Rome who is determined on social advancement, whatever the cost.
Ardant plays a French gallery owner with influential contacts who is wooed by Lastella in his bid to get ahead.
Marra told ANSA after the screening: "This film is truer than true. They can throw rotten tomatoes at it if they want but I'm proud of it".
The 35-year-old Neapolitan director has made three feature films so far including the award-winning Tornando a Casa (Coming Home), which picked up the critics' prize for best film at Venice in 2001.
Italy's hopes in this year's festival, which wraps up on Saturday, are pinned on Marra and two other little-known but critically acclaimed directors: Andrea Porporati and Paolo Franchi.
Porporati's Il Dolce e l'Amaro (The Sweet and the Bitter) is a Mafia pic while Franchi's Nessuna Qualita' Agli Eroi (Fallen Heroes) is a bleak portrait of male angst.
None of the three Italian films have met with much enthusiasm from the press at the festival, which always stirs up patriotism in the nation's cinema industry and media.
