Venice Film Festival set to kick off with international talents expected on social distanced red carpet

Washington [US], Sept 1 : The 77th Venice Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, with Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Matt Dillon, and France's Ludivine Sagnier among international stars expected on the social-distanced red carpet.
This will mark the opening of the first major post coronavirus physical film event packed with plenty of symbolic significance.
According to Variety, Just as the release of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster spy thriller 'Tenet' is now considered a post-pandemic turning point for exhibitors, Venice is likely to be marked as the pivotal restart moment for film festivals.
Along with enough stars to keep the 120 accredited photographers happy enough, the festival's opening ceremony will be attended by artistic directors of seven prominent European film events, including Cannes (Thierry Fremaux), Berlin (Carlo Chatrian), and Locarno (Lili Hinstin).
As previously announced, these festival chiefs will be taking the stage to express solidarity toward other fests that have been cancelled or postponed and "especially to express our support for the industry and for filmmakers, talents, and exhibitors who have suffered the most," Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera told Variety.
Barbera said that strict sanitary security measures are in place involving multiple swab tests for those arriving from outside Europe and also from some European countries, such as Spain. There are thermo scanners at festival entrance points and social-distanced seating in screening venues and at press conferences.
At the Venice airport, there is a designated swab spot where Lido organizers are expecting some 350 festival attendees to be tested upon their arrival.
As per Variety, Barbera and the team have reinvented the red carpet for the age of coronavirus by installing a wall-like outer barrier shielding the long catwalk entirely that has a dual function. It provides extra space for photographers and "also averts the risk of (fan) gatherings," says Barbera, who notes that "the biggest risk" of a potential virus spread was definitely connected to the fan frenzy when talents do the red carpet." So it will basically be a red carpet with no physical fan presence, though the ritual will be broadcast live and streamed on multiple outlets.
The festival's out-of-competition opener is Italian director Daniele Luchetti's anatomy of a marriage drama 'Lacci' ('The Ties'), marking the first time an Italian film has opened Venice since Giuseppe Tornatore's Sicilian epic 'Baaria' in 2009.
The festival's most-anticipated U.S. title is 'Nomadland,' directed by Chinese-born Chloe Zhao, starring Frances McDormand, which will screen at Venice and Toronto simultaneously on September 11, in both cases preceded by virtual introductions.