September - Venice Film Festival

The Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica, better known internationally as the Venice Film Festival, is by far the oldest film festival still in existence today.  Screenings take place in cinemas all over Venice, but the centre of the action is the Lido area of the city.

This year is the 63rd edition and 70th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival and it remains as vibrant as ever.

The festival was established in 1932, and even in the prevailing cinematic climate of fascist propaganda films and imitations of Hollywood comedies ("white telephone" comedies, named after that undying symbol of elegance and opulence), it upheld the values of cinema d'auteur, transcending national boundaries.

After the Second World War, the event reflected the new climate of freedom of expression.  Cinema makers of the Neo-realist school such as Rossellini and de Sica discovered more direct takes on reality which gave the lie to the glossy artificiality of much Hollywood cinema, opening the way for visionaries like Fellini whilst influencing American film of the 1960s.

In 1952, the characteristic Golden Lion prize was introduced. To this day it remains, along with the Cannes Palme d'Or, one of the few trophies in the film world that comes anywhere near Hollywood's little golden man, the Oscar.

Breathe in the atmosphere as you approach the Lido by vaporetto boat (15 minutes from San Marco), rub shoulders with producers, paparazzi, stars and starlets and Venice's finest on the Corso and feel the feverish tension before the premières. 

Although the festival has traditionally sponsored non-Hollywood cinema, there has recently been a rapprochement, making this one of the most glamorous end-of-summer venues in the world.