Venezia 78 is going more than well. Movies are beautiful, stunning, entertaining. Italian production exploded during pandemic. Italian directors (excluding Matteo Garrone and Nanni Moretti) worked hard and the results are here at Lido with variegated and intelligent movies with great actors from different generations. Everything’s fine, then? Actually…no. Because the greatest concern is about the future of movie theatres. Exhibitors suffered a lot the continous lockdown and box office is still disappointing and the reason is not only because of social distance, face mask, green pass and on. Last week Italian box office was won by Marvel’s Shang-Chi with 1.484.436 euro and 158.122 spectators for 592 screens. Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter (135.633 euro and 20.015) and International Critic’s Week’s Mondocane with popular Italian star Alessandro Borghi earned 41.027 euro and 5.779 spectators. Datas are crystal clear. We have to wait a few weeks for the release of the movies that opened, meanwhile we could give an idea that i salso a provocation. Open a thousand little theaters far from big cities instead of new multiplex for mainstream movies. Just like the beautiful refurbished Sala Laguna that reopened at the beginning of the festival and that Venice Days tributed to the filmmaker Valentina Pedicini. Sala Laguna will remain open the whole year and will have an art-house programme and a lot of special previews presented by the directors. It would be great doing the same in a thousand small town to rebuild the relationship with the audience, the same audience that during the lockdown had an overdose of streaming platforms that with the right incentive could find the way out again. And not only to experience movies in a theatre, but also to start socializing again.
A thousand little Sala Laguna
