"Carnage" and Winslet's vomit scene win praise at Venice (Pictures)

(CBS) Roman Polanski's "Carnage" is garnering rave reviews after its world premiere Thursday night at the Venice Film Festival. It is one of 22 films competing for the Golden Lion, the top prize in the competition.

The movie, based on the Tony-winning Broadway play "God of Carnage," stars Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster. All but Foster turned up for the red-carpet premiere.

Pictures: "Carnage" premiere
Pictures: Venice Film Festival

The film drew applause and laughter, throughout its screening, with Kate Winslet's projectile vomiting scene getting the biggest laugh.

"It was absolutely hilarious shooting the vomit sequence," the actress told reporters at a press conference earlier in the day.

"We were all completely beside ourselves with laughter. I had to contain a lot of vomit in my mouth which is not possible for a person to do. So without going into too much detail, it was a fairly complex rig and there was some extremely clever CGI involved.

"My kids came to work ... for the vomit day and I'm so thrilled that they were there because they literally haven't stopped talking about it since."

The movie is set in a Brooklyn brownstone but was filmed in Paris because the 78-year-old Polanski is a fugitive from the U.S., wanted for sentencing for having sex with a teenager in 1977. That's why he was not at the festival in Italy, which has a history of cooperating with U.S. authorities.

The festival opened Wednesday with the premiere of George Clooney's "The Ides of March."