Italian director Sebastiano Riso victim of homophobic attack

Celebrated Italian filmmaker Sebastiano Riso was the victim of a homophobic attack in Rome soon after his film "A Family" opened in cinemas in Italy.

Riso, who recently debuted his film "A Family" at the Venice Film Festival, was attacked in the hallway of his Rome apartment by two men who shouted anti-gay epithets, reported Variety.

The filmmaker suffered multiple abdominal and eye injuries and is now in the city's Fatebenefratelli hospital, where doctors said he would stay for 10 days, according to daily newspaper La Repubblica.

"Yesterday I was hit three times, and I feel it is a threefold attack [against me]: as a homosexual, as a director and as a person. As a homosexual because, while I was being hit, they addressed me with homophobic insults.

"As a director because the insults referred to the themes I deal with in my latest film, such as the possibility for gay couples to form their own family, and because the violence was perpetrated against my inclination to express myself through my work," Riso said in a statement.

"A Family" tells the story of a heterosexual couple who supplies children to gay couples.

"Despite the fear and rage that I still feel... I am sure I will continue to do that (express myself) the same way and even more than before," he added.