Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, speaking to ANSA (via Variety), is now saying that the 2020 edition of the fest will be “experimental,” adding that there will be “use of surgical masks and social distancing” as well as “probably less accredited attendees.”
He continued, “It’s clear that many films — especially international ones — will not come accompanied by talent who won’t be willing, or able, to come.” Barbera also says that “a real collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival” is a possibility and that it would represent “a form of solidarity towards the film community that is undergoing an unprecedented tough time.”
The main reading I have from this interview is that Barbera seems to be hinting at a more euro-centric edition of the fest, with American movies taking a backseat for more local titles. Overall, it does sound as though Venice will be a much smaller affair this year and will have to follow sanitation guidelines such as mask-wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing to make it a feasible option. Is it a stretch that this could potentially happen in the midst of a pandemic? The optimist in me wishes that to be the case, but we don’t even know if the Italian government would allow for the Venice Film Festival to happen, even under the strictest of sanitary guidelines and circumstances.
The best option right now, for practically any film festival, including TIFF, would be a digital edition.
The Venice Film Festival is set to kick-happen on September 2nd. Godspeed.
“Other Mommy” has a budget of just $19M. Even if it craters next weekend and limps to, say, a $60M domestic total, Universal and Blumhouse/Atomic Monster will make money on this one.