Venice is a sophisticated city. There’s a real good chance to run into a world-class star on your way to the market or to the dentist. But there are days when you just can’t miss them, even if you want to.  

Exactly this happened today – when I confronted Penelopa Cruz I suddenly realized that the Venice Film Festival is quite in its middle and I haven’t devoted a single line to it. I’ll fix it.

So…Let’s first look into the very name of this historical event. Like lots of things in Venice, it contains just a couple of inaccuracies that eventually transformed into a global myth. 

First, rather Lido than Venice. As a matter of fact, it happens not in Venice but on the neighboring Lido Island. Technically, this is a part of Venice, but the Venetians do not consider the inhabitants of the neighboring islands to be Venetians.

Second, as the original event’s name says Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica – this is rather an exhibition than a festival. But first things first.

History

Back in 1932 Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, who also happened to be the owner of luxurious Excelsior Hotel, decided that the rich and famous guests should not hang around the island at night in search of entertainment, but would certainly gather in his hotel. With this mercantile goal in mind, he arranged the first film screening right on the terrace of the Excelsior. No jury or competition was envisaged, but the event exploded and in 1934, during the next screening, the festival became a competition, although it kept its former name, Mostra. 

This is how the world found the oldest film festival in the world. For comparison, the Cannes Film Festival was founded in 1946 and the Berlin Film Festival in 1951 only.)

Scandals

As I live so close with Italians for several years, at some point I even questioned the existence of the Italian mafia. They are definitely peaceful people and certainly not aggressive. But, as for their ability and, most importantly, their desire to argue, they are, perhaps, unrivaled. Italians love to quarrel just as much as they love pizza or pasta. And the Venice Film Festival is no exception. In its early days, in 1933, the honorable public was presented with the film Ecstasy, in which the actress Hedy Lamarr starred literally in her birthday suit. Today we are surprised when there isn’t a single erotic scene in the film, but at the time, the heroine’s appearance on screen in the nude had such an effect that the Pope himself signed up as a film critic, calling the picture awful. 

In the late 1980s, the Venice Film Festival and the papacy again disagreed on the eternal, good and light. The reason for this was Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. 

Venice Film Festival, like any other world-class event, hasn’t escaped a lot of scandals and reproaches, but we love it not because of that, though for that, too. 

By the way, this year’s festival has so far avoided any piquant sensations and scandals, except, of course, that Antonio Banderas has not been seen drunk for several days in a row. 

Celebrities’ gathering places

For the first few years of its existence, the festival was held in the same place where it was born, namely Excelsior Hotel. Later, in 1937, it acquired its own palace, Palazzo del Cinema. So, if you really want the paparazzi to stare at you, puzzling over where they might have seen you before, feel free to make yourself comfortable in the hotel lobby with a cup of coffee and nod to the passing stars. 

There are still a couple of places where the number of celebrities per square meter becomes so dense at this time that the general attention is attracted rather by the unknown guest. This is Cipriani Hotel located on Giudecca Island. And the ancient, but very luxurious Danieli Hotel. 

However, it’s not necessarily to go to these places to be near your favorite actors and directors. It is enough to go to Venice. In between writing these lines, I went out for a simple stroll through the evening city and snatched my favorite cigar. And on the nearest street, not far from the theater La Fenice I met a man, who, in my opinion, created a masterpiece of contemporary Italian cinema, the film “La Grande Bellezza”. Yes, Paolo Sorrentino, the famous director, winner of Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, author of The Great Beauty and The Young Pope, noticing my little confusion just smiled, and I smiled back. And each of us took his own path, knowing that this is the way it should be. 

In a word – watch movies, love movies, live like in a movie!