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FILM

‘No autographs, please’: Venice prepares for virus-safe film festival

The Venice Film Festival issued virus safety guidelines on Friday, as organisers hope the oldest such event in the world can maintain its international panache while remaining infection-free.

Published: 22 August 2020 07:52 CEST
'No autographs, please': Venice prepares for virus-safe film festival
The British rock star Mick Jagger arrives by boat at the Lido in Venice during last year's festival. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP
The 10-day festival that begins next month on the legendary Lido in Venice is likely to be one of the festival's most atypical, given the masks and social distancing necessitated by the lingering threat of coronavirus.
   
The Biennale di Venezia, as it is called in Italian, has taken on greater importance this year as film festivals across have the globe have cancelled, including Venice's main competitor, the glamorous Cannes Film Festival on the Cote d'Azur in France.
   
But recent spikes in coronavirus cases around Europe — including Italy — have raised the stakes for the festival, the first major international film event to be held in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
   
Festival organisers have already warned that the September 2-12 event will be a more scaled-down affair as thousands of filmmakers, actors, journalists and industry executives are unable to travel due to border restrictions.   
 
Still, the prestigious festival — now in its 77th year — will attract hundreds of journalists and a mostly European crowd of guests, including personalities such as Australian actress Cate Blanchett, president of the jury.
 
 
  • Those who arrive from outside Europe's Schengen area will have to submit results of a COVID-19 test just before their departure, organisers said, with a second test carried out in Venice. 
  • Thermoscanners will be set up at every entrance to the festival, with disinfecting liquid available in all screening rooms, halls and meeting points.
  • Masks are mandatory not only inside theatres but in all outdoor areas.
  • In a move sure to disappoint star-struck fans, the public will not be allowed on the sidelines of the red carpet, that much watched parade of fashion and finery, which will be reserved for photographers alone. 
  • Inside theatres, seats will be alternated to maintain one empty seat between filmgoers.
   
The Venice Film Festival is a point of reference for the world of culture and cinema where movies often go on to win Oscars at the Academy Awards in Hollywood the following year. 
   
This year, 18 films are in competition, for a total of 60 features in five different categories and 15 shorts.
   
Fifty countries are represented in the festival.
   
This year, festivals around the globe such as Cannes, Telluride and South by Southwest have been forced to cancel due to the coronavirus.

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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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