77th Venice Film Festival To Go Ahead As Planned Despite Coronavirus Pandemic

The 77th Venice Film Festival will go ahead as planned in September, but the event will look very different compared to the previous years.

The 2020 Venice International Film Festival will go ahead as scheduled. There are no changes to its calendar, the governor confirmed on Sunday (May 24).

Luca Zaia, governor of Veneto, confirmed that the 77th Venice Film Festival, the world’s longest-running film festival, is going take place on Sept. 2 to Sept. 12.

Initially, the Venice Biennale architecture and the film festival were meant to overlap. However, the Biennale of Architecture was moved to 2021, but the film festival will proceed as planned, Variety reported.

There was a survey earlier this month to gather the concerns and suggestions for the upcoming edition of the festival. The letter was meant to gauge how the filmmakers, actors, and producers are willing to attend the fest.

“We know that it would be simply impossible to plan a festival without knowing if you all are willing to use the Festival to give a new start and a strong sign for keeping cinema alive, even in these difficult times,” Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera wrote in the letter.

Barbera also asked the producers and sales agents about the possibility of them bringing talents for the invited films. The organizers are confident that the festival is happening, but the look of the event is expected to change.

Zaia already said that there will be fewer films. Probably, there will also be fewer attendees especially since social distancing is still being encouraged.

Roberto Cicutto, president of the Venice Film Festival’s parent organization, Venice Biennale, already said earlier that they had no plans of canceling the event. At the time, he also criticized Theirry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival for not making up his mind about the festival head-on.

Fremaux said he was planning for a collaboration with other festivals. However, Cicutto said there were no talks about it.

“With Cannes, everything is possible, but I find it disconcerting that Thierry Fremaux keeps saying he is continuing to examine the situation and does not say what he wants to do. We are going forward with our program, and if Cannes is still thinking (about collaboration) then there is no dialogue,” Cicutto said.