The Lido Lowdown

Voyaging Through Venice Film Festival (31st August - 9th September)

Two common themes dominate the Venice Film Festival: one, the withdrawal of major talent due to the strike — mostly notably the Zendaya-starring tennis drama Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, 2023) — as actors need exemptions to give quotes to the press. Two: the press ticketing system. Operated by the universally derided Italian company Vivaticket, critics are reporting waits of over 2 hours just to see the latest Lanthimos movie. Well, it could be worse. TIFF is operated by… Ticketmaster; resale tickets for Miyazaki’s latest are going for over 300 dollars.

It’s not hard to solve these problems. The WGA’s demands represent a miniscule percentage of studio overheads. And festivals can easily find normal ways to sell regular and press tickets to their events. But festivals and the studios thrive on making silly decisions; making that so-called special experience that much more miserable.

With that said, friends who have been to Venice — especially those staying on the Lido, a separate island to the hustling/bustling/tourism dystopia that is Venice proper — all wax lyrical about the cheap Aperol spritzes, aperitivo culture, the beautiful views and, of course, the films themselves. This year’s competition, with films from David Fincher, Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola, Bertrand Bonello and Michael Mann, looks genuinely exciting, almost certainly a bellwether for the upcoming Oscar season.

At Journey Into Cinema, we’re treating the Venice Film Festival (from afar, alas) like you should treat visiting Venice; avoiding the overcrowded rabble of the film equivalents of St Mark’s Square and finding those unspoiled, underrated gems (the reasonably priced film trattorias, if you will) that deserve more of a look-in. We’ve already got a variety of reviews of fine films scheduled across the Critics’ Week, parallel programme Giornate Degli Autori and Orizzonti (mostly focused on debut films), with much more to come. Make sure to subscribe and keep in touch to see what’s worth keeping on your radar. And if you’re in Venice, have an Aperol on me.