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UK director Sam Mendes to head Venice film festival jury

British film director Sam Mendes will head the jury at the 73rd Venice film festival this summer, organizers announced on Wednesday.

Published: 28 April 2016 08:25 CEST
UK director Sam Mendes to head Venice film festival jury
"Spectre" director Sam Mendes will lead the jury at this year's Venice film festival. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

Mendes, who has directed several blockbusters including James Bond pictures “Skyfall” and “Spectre”, said he was “delighted” to be asked to preside over the worlds' oldest film festival.

This year's event will run from August 31st to September 10th.

“I'm very honoured to have been asked… I've always had a strong personal connection with Venice; as a student I worked for three months at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection way back in 1984, and my happiest film festival memory is launching 'Road To Perdition' at Venice in 2002,” said Mendes, 50.

He will head up the international jury which decides the winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award for best film as well as the winner of the Silver Lion award for best director.

Venezuelan film “Desde Alla” (From Afar) won last year's Golden Lion, while Argentina's Pablo Trapero scooped the Silver Lion for crime thriller “El Clan”.

Festival director Alberto Barbera said: “(Mendes') productions, whether destined for stage or screen, are able to reconcile the expectations of the most exacting critics with the tastes of a vast audience which seems to transcend all geographical and cultural boundaries.”

Mendes won the Oscar for best director for his directoral debut “American Beauty” in 2000.

As well as winning acclaim for his big screen work, Mendes has directed several plays in London including for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

“I am thoroughly delighted to be coming back to the Lido this year and welcoming a wealth of international filmmaking talent,” said Mendes.

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VENICE

Italy to pay €57m compensation over Venice cruise ship ban

The Italian government announced on Friday it would pay 57.5 million euros in compensation to cruise companies affected by the decision to ban large ships from Venice's fragile lagoon.

Published: 3 December 2021 17:41 CET
A cruise ship in St Mark's Basin, Venice.
The decision to limit cruise ship access to the Venice lagoon has come at a cost. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The new rules, which took effect in August, followed years of warnings that the giant floating hotels risked causing irreparable damage to the lagoon city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

READ ALSO: Venice bans large cruise ships from centre after Unesco threat of ‘endangered’ status

Some 30 million euros has been allocated for 2021 for shipping companies who incurred costs in “rescheduling routes and refunding passengers who cancelled trips”, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement.

A further 27.5 million euros – five million this year and the rest in 2022 – was allocated for the terminal operator and related companies, it said.

The decision to ban large cruise ships from the centre of Venice in July came just days before a meeting of the UN’s cultural organisation Unesco, which had proposed adding Venice to a list of endangered heritage sites over inaction on cruise ships.

READ ALSO: Is Venice really banning cruise ships from its lagoon?

Under the government’s plan, cruise ships will not be banned from Venice altogether but the biggest vessels will no longer be able to pass through St Mark’s Basin, St Mark’s Canal or the Giudecca Canal. Instead, they’ll be diverted to the industrial port at Marghera.

But critics of the plan point out that Marghera – which is on the mainland, as opposed to the passenger terminal located in the islands – is still within the Venice lagoon.

Some aspects of the plan remain unclear, as infrastructure at Marghera is still being built. Meanwhile, smaller cruise liners are still allowed through St Mark’s and the Giudecca canals.

Cruise ships provide a huge economic boost to Venice, but activists and residents say the ships contribute to problems caused by ‘overtourism’ and cause large waves that undermine the city’s foundations and harm the fragile ecosystem of its lagoon.

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