Gia Coppola seeks own voice in film.

Byline: Patricia Thomas

VENICE, Italy -- First-time director Gia Coppola says she is trying to find her own voice as a filmmaker, so she didn't seek much help from either grandfather Francis Ford Coppola or aunt Sofia Coppola.

''It was important for me to find my own voice and try to do it on my own,'' she said in an interview Sunday before the debut of her film ''Palo Alto'' at the Venice Film Festival -- where Sofia walked away with the Golden Lion in 2010 for ''Somewhere.''

''Paolo Alto,'' based on a book by James Franco and starring the actor, explores the vulnerability of teenagers through the lives of four high school...