Venice Film Festival Says There is Absolutely No Chances It Goes Digital in September

First things first, despite the SXSW and Tribeca canceling their live events and partially moving online, Cannes and Venice are different beasts. They are purists at heart, with a very rich and lengthy tradition in celebrating the theatrical experience. There is absolutely no way these festivals would embrace going digital and screening their competition films via a streaming platform. Okay? Get that out of your head. Either these prestigious European festivals happen in-person or will be unequivocally canceled.

And so, the Venice Film Festival, it officially appears, is only going to happen if people can physically attend the late August/early September event. That means, either we feel comfortable by late summer to sit in a darkened room, with thousands of cinephiles, to watch a movie or the event is canceled altogether. Speaking to Variety, a spokesperson for the Venice Film Festival has shot down the notion of turning into a digital event:

“The Venice Film Festival cannot be replaced by an online event,” a spokesman said, adding “there is obviously the possibility that we use technology for some initiatives” but noted, “it’s too early for this to be decided.”

The Toronto International Film Festival has already hinted at an interest in going digital, that is if, by its September event date, the pandemic has still not been totally contained. Venice boss Alberto Barbera has said, “Toronto is a different type of festival, not comparable to Cannes or Venice.” He is correct. Steering clear from the American film industry for a second, Venice and Cannes are heavily relied upon by Euro distributors to launch competition titles all around the continent and the world. That means big bucks. By all accounts, there should probably, at the very least, I would hope so, be the announcement of the Cannes competition titles, that would, at least, give the 21 or so films selected the stamina and energy to carry on for fall theatrical distribution and release all over Europe, even if Cannes ultimately does not happen. The European movie market is desperately counting on an announcement of titles and if that doesn’t happen then 2020 will be a year of immeasurable financial losses for these distributors.