The Red Carpet behind the wall - Photo: Cat Bauer |
(Venice, Italy) How does it feel to attend the Venice Film Festival during a global pandemic? Mostly serene. Less frenetic. More European. There is a new system in place where every person with accreditation must make a reservation for every screening and every press conference, which is a good thing. In past years, it had become more like a competition to get in the door to the buzzy films, and attendees were sometimes forced to queue long in advance. Now we know we have a seat, just like regular members of the audience — it saves a lot of time. We can be found by matching our seat number to our accreditation badge in case of a coronavirus outbreak, and they can easily identify everyone who is seated in the same vicinity.
Our temperature is taken when we enter the grounds of the film festival, and when we enter a screening. The police are being extremely vigilant about checking our tote bags. Every other seat in the theater is left empty, so the audience is cut in half. To work in the press room, our pass codes and time we enter is recorded by hand, and we are given a handwritten number so that we can be easily located. There are no computers to share, which is inconvenient but understandable; we must bring our own. When we leave the press room we turn in the number so the time we leave can be recorded, and the place where we sat is sanitized. Masks must be worn everywhere at all times, and it is strictly enforced.
New electric scooters on the Lido |
The frenzy of the arrival of the stars on the Red Carpet is almost non-existent. The barrier separating the people on the street from the Red Carpet has been heightened so you can’t see over it — it used to be that stars could just reach across the barrier and thrill their fans with a personal touch. Now in order to see anything you have to watch the video screen. Gone are all the autograph and selfie seekers that would camp out for hours in the hope of seeing their favorite stars. I miss all the glitz and glamour, and the crowds of onlookers. Last year I interviewed three girls who had been coming to the Red Carpet for years in a post called Waiting for the Stars. They had first encountered each other outside the barrier to the Red Carpet, had bonded, and since then had held a yearly reunion, becoming Red Carpet pros with clever tricks and maneuvers. I wonder where they are this year...
Lexus all-electric car - Photo: Cat Bauer |
There are lots of positive new innovations on the Lido. The busses to take us to the festival are all electric and nearly silent, without that ancient fossil fuel energy belching out the rumble of dinosaurs. All the Lexus cars, an official sponsor of the Venice Film Festival, are fully electric. There are new orange bicycles for rent, as well as electric scooters. La Biennale di Venezia tote bags are khaki green, created by Tucano in Milan, and made entirely of recycled plastic bottles, which are transformed into thread. It feels just like cloth.
Winged Lion of Venice wood sculpture by Marco Martalar - Photo: Cat Bauer |
At the moment I write this, there has not been a single COVID-19 coronavirus case at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. I feel grateful and privileged to be able to attend it in this challenging year. That La Biennale di Venezia took the courageous step of safely restarting the World of Cinema during a global health crisis is something to applaud.
Ciao from the Venice Film Festival,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
At the moment I write this, there has not been a single COVID-19 coronavirus case at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. I feel grateful and privileged to be able to attend it in this challenging year. That La Biennale di Venezia took the courageous step of safely restarting the World of Cinema during a global health crisis is something to applaud.
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