Waiting for the Festival

The restored version of the classic film by and with Vittorio De Sica, L’oro di Napoli (The Gold of Naples, 1954), will be the Pre-opening film of the 81^st Venice International Film Festival on Tuesday August 27th in Sala Darsena on the Lido di Venezia at 8:30pm, on the 50th anniversary of the death of Vittorio De Sica and the 70th anniversary of the film. Invitations in collaboration with the dailies of Venice. Info on www.labiennale.org.

Tim Burton will then kick off the new edition of the Venice International Film Festival, ready to celebrate its 81st edition on August 28. The American director will be introduced by the new host, actress and model Sveva Alviti, who will accompany the event until the final awards ceremony on September 7, during which the Lions will be awarded.

This year too, the Lido will be enlivened by cinephiles, journalists, and special guests. The Lifetime Achievement Lions will be awarded to Sigourney Weaver, who captivated the public with Ridley Scott’s Alien, becoming an unprecedented heroine, and to Peter Weir, the director who contributed to the revival of Australian cinema with bold, rigorous, and spectacular films, capable of combining reflections on personal themes with the need to address a broad audience.

In the poster by Brescia illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti, selected to create the poster for the seventh year in a row, an unusual animal for the city of Venice appears: an elephant. Behind the artist’s classic style, made of saturated hues rendered uniform by the use of oil pastels, lies the anecdote of the animal that wandered through the Venetian streets during the Carnival in 1981. A symbol of exoticism, the animal crossing the Lagoon aims to be a witness to the union that only cinema can give, where distant worlds and languages meet in a blend of light and elegance.

Many new faces will walk the streets of the Lido and appear at its convention center, but not only that. Some of the festival’s most well-known faces will also return, including director Nicolas Winding Refn, a dear friend of Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, ready to delight us with the restoration of his most iconic film, Pusher, and the presentation of a new short film titled Beauty is not a Sin. Many Italians will also be in competition and not, including the multi-awarded Luca Marinelli, star of the highly anticipated Sky Original series M – Il figlio del secolo, directed by Joe Wright.

Once again, the festival has its eyes on the future of cinema, ready to welcome new visions and imaginaries, often unusual and unexpected.

For more information and to purchase the Venice Immersive accreditation click here. Discover the Festival program and buy tickets at the following link!