77th Venice Film Festival To Happen As Scheduled

The oldest film festival in the world, the Venice Film Festival, has decided to not cancel this year’s event despite the pandemic, and it will even take place between the dates that were originally announced. The novel coronavirus has forced many cultural events to cancel or postpone their ceremonies due to the life-threatening illness.

In an interview with an Italian news agency ANSA, Roberto Cicutto, president of the Venice Film Festival’s parent organization, Venice Biennale, revealed that he is not thinking of canceling the upcoming edition of the prestigious festival.

He also made it clear that there is no intention of collaborating with Cannes for an event this year. Cicutto also criticized Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, for evaluating the situation until now and not revealing what he wants to do.

“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.

The 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival will commence from Sept. 2 and end on Sept. 12.

Last week, Fremaux told Variety that he was in constant touch with Alberto Barbera, director of Venice Film Festival, to collaborate for an event later this year if Cannes were to get canceled.

The news of collaboration came just 24 hours after the organizing committee of the highly prestigious film festival announced that this year’s event might not take place due to the extension of the nationwide lockdown.

As soon as the announcement was made, the organization released an official statement on its website and noted that hosting the event in the last week of June is not an option now. President Emmanuel Macron revealed earlier that the French Government will not allow any big gatherings until mid-July.

The organizers further stated that it is clearly difficult to assume that the festival could take place this year in its “original form.”

More than 150,000 positive cases and 20,265 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in France. Meanwhile, more than 28,000 people have recovered from the disease.

On the other hand, the life-threatening virus continues to wreak havoc in various parts of the world. The total number of positive cases has crossed 2.4 million and 170,472 people have lost their lives due to the pandemic as of late.