Cinema comes back to life today. 77th Venice Film Festival is the first collective ritual many months later the beginning of Hurricane Covid. An actual rite, physical, made of screenings in a theatre, live meetings with talents, red carpet and even some prudent social events. The program is rich and builds anticipation with 43 represented nations from Algeria to Vietnam and many titles coming from USA, France, United Kingdom, Germany, South America and Far East, and of course from Italy as well.
Many international talents will show up in Venice despite quarantine and Covid restrictions, while the machine that turns Lido in a magnet attracting anyone having something to share about cinema is already working. Alberto Barbera and Roberto Cicutto have succeded the little miracle to organize a worthy Mostra Internazionale d’arte cinematografica di Venezia even in the Annus Horribilis of cinema. Not a virtual event, but a physical one, the first big international film festival while many other events are still forced to give up.
It’s a great achievement and a great hype for our country and our movie industry that show first to the world a cultural antidote to this insidious and endless pandemic. Of course red carpet will be far from the fans and the star will march just for photographers, audience will be spaced in theaters, temperature will be taken at every check point and face mask must be always worn. Even share ideas at dinner or enjoying a typical Spritz will be complicated. But it is still a restart. And yes, it’s a tiny miracle that gives us back quite a slice of movie magic. Now it’s important to persevere. What will be shown in Venice must arrive in theaters as soon as possible as much as the many Hollywood blockbusters still stuck. This is the way to climb back faster from the fearful pit Covid precipitate us. There’s an whole industrial sector and thousands of professional waiting for this recovering that will be vital to everyone. Movies are made of the essence of dreams. Dreamers achieve for a better life and wake up the others from post covid numbness.
