Venice – The 78th Venice International Film Festival Kicks begin on Wednesday (Sept 1) night.
Unlike rival Cannes, the world’s oldest film festival did not skip the 2020 edition due to the health crisis but it is only this year that celebrities are returning in force to the Lido waterfront, in a show of support for an industry hammered by lockdowns.
Organisers are banking on a strict anti-COVID protocol to help keep the 11-day movie marathon trouble-free.
Theatres are operating at half capacity and a wall blocks the view to the red carpet to stop crowds from gathering outside the main venue. Face masks and a health pass or a negative COVID test are required to attend screenings, and there will be fewer late-night parties.
Bong Joon-ho, whose film Parasite won Venice in 2019, catapulting the movie to a historic best picture win at the 2020 Oscars, was visibly moved as he took the stage. Saying how grateful he was to be able to judge “the best new films in front of an audience” he noted that “Corona will be over soon but cinema will be with us forever.”
It was a start. Jane Campion, the first female director to win the Palme d’Or in Cannes, who returns to Venice this year with The Power of the Dog, her first feature film in 12 years, followed Bong with a tribute to this year’s lifetime achievement winner: legendary Italian comedian, actor, and director Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful).
Campion said Benigni’s irrepressible joy —which she compared to “an exploding bottle of Prosecco” was particularly needed “at this difficult time for filmmakers and for people all over the world.” Recalling his giddy response to winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for Life is Beautiful in 1999 when the Italian actor climbed over the backs of the seats in front of him in a clamour to get to the stage, she called the 68-year-old filmmaker “a comic genius with heart and sincerity.”
“Everybody everywhere is eager to come back, to reopen, to restart, to release the films that stayed on the shelf for a year and a half or maybe two years,” festival director Alberto Barbera.
He said most of the world premieres to be screened at the festival were already sold out, and promised that there would be no shortage of celebrities – even though fans will not be able to get anywhere near them.
“The red carpet will be one of the most crowded in years because everybody is here,” he said.
