- The 71st incarnation of the long-lasting Venice Movie Pageant begins on 27 August
- The competition is a less-known gem – and provides nearer glimpses of the celebs
- A-listers like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney have appeared lately
As I took a vaporetto from Venice Marco Polo airport, I used to be surprised to see an enormous gray submarine rising from the lagoon.
When the 2 vessels drew nearer, I noticed the unmistakable determine of Denzel Washington on board, waving frantically at me, surrounded by Italian naval officers.
Momentarily, I assumed I might need to rescue Denzel from his captors – then realised it was a stunt to advertise his movie Crimson Tide, a thriller set on a submarine.
Stars: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock and Jack Nicholson have all made current appearances on the competition
It was 1995, and I used to be on my first go to to the Venice Movie Pageant, held yearly on the finish of August on the sybaritic island of the Lido, with the lagoon on one facet and the lapping waters of the Adriatic on the opposite.
The movie competition is the oldest, and arguably probably the most glamorous, on the earth.
It celebrated its seventieth version final yr. Remarkably, it makes little try to advertise itself to the hordes of vacationers who descend on Venice every summer season.
On the airport and on the mainland, within the neighborhood of St Mark’s Sq. and so far as the Rialto Bridge, there aren’t any posters for the competition and completely nothing to point that a number of the planet’s greatest film stars are on the town.
It’s as if the town fathers have taken a vow of omerta, to permit the Italian cognoscenti to benefit from the pleasures of the competition to the exclusion of sweaty foreigners.
Boats and wonder: The Venice Movie Pageant coincides with the colorful pageantry of the town’s Regatta Storica
But, not like the Cannes Movie Pageant, the place it’s nearly unimaginable for peculiar mortals to attend the red–carpet screenings, anybody should purchase tickets to the premieres and galas at Venice. They go on sale on the ticket sales space on the Lido (simply accessible by water-bus from the mainland).
I’ve not often seen queues, because the sales space is hidden away within the leafy shadows of the On line casino constructing.
At Venice the actors stroll the purple carpet, signal autographs and take photographs with the followers. So even for those who fail to get a ticket, a selfie with a film star is a good comfort prize.
Final yr, the competition opened with the world premiere of sci-fi thriller Gravity. Stars can’t arrive by limo on the Lido. As an alternative George Clooney arrived by water-taxi, accompanied by his co-star Sandra Bullock and director Alfonso Cuaron. On the press convention, when requested how he ready for the function of an astronaut, he joked: ‘Sandy and I did numerous Bikram yoga collectively.’
Afterwards, the gala dinner was within the magnificent setting of the sea-front Excelsior Resort, in two massive marquees on the seaside. This resort – a favorite of Quentin Tarantino when he served as jury president, the top of the panel judging the movies – is the primary hub of the competition, and the terrace is an excellent place to take pleasure in a sundowner.
Mild and shade: George Clooney (left; second left in shot, white shirt) arrives in Venice by water-taxi throughout the 2013 competition; Julie Christie (proper), experiencing a darker facet of Venice – because the setting for Do not Look Now
Most of the stars select to remain within the extra secluded Cipriani Resort, situated within the verdant Giudecca island. Set primarily in a fifteenth century pastel-coloured constructing, it was opened in 1958 by Giuseppe Cipriani. The story goes that Giuseppe was impressed by the sunshine of the late night solar setting on the lagoon to create a cocktail that captured the color of the sundown.
And so the bellini was born, with its combination of prosecco and peach puree. No customer to the resort would dream of ordering the rest in Harry’s Bar, named after Giuseppe’s son.
Just like the Excelsior, the Cipriani Resort has its personal non-public moorings, free water-boat shuttle service and a stunning restaurant, Cips, which faces the Grand Canal.
It additionally has an Olympic-size pool and pleasant gardens.
The infamous Venetian lover Giacomo Casanova is claimed to have loved many trysts there.
It was right here on this similar backyard, because the night sunshine rippled via the timber, that I attended a dinner for that modern-day lothario, Jack Nicholson.
He was starring within the Sean Penn-directed film The Crossing Guard.
Penn, producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Spike Lee and The Exorcist director William Friedkin had been friends, and it was a relaxed affair, with Nicholson carrying his trademark shades through-out dinner.
In direction of the top of the night our host, an Italian media mogul, obtained as much as toast Nicholson.
Huge names: Angelina Jolie places in an look on the 2004 competition; Denzel Washington has additionally attended
However he was so tipsy that he stumbled, barely managing to remain upright. As he stared blankly at Nicholson, it was clear he had momentarily forgotten Jack’s title, so – flashing that well-known grin – the actor got here to his rescue by shouting: ‘Jack!’ Each-one burst out laughing, and the media man seemed relieved to have escaped a ‘Here is Johnny!’ scene.
British movies had been nicely represented final yr with the world premiere of Philomena, attended by Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.
They stayed on the 14th century palace within the gilded splendour of the Resort Danieli (which additionally incorporates a nineteenth and twentieth Century palace) just a few gondola-lengths from the Bridge of Sighs.
It’s a resort steeped in celluloid heritage, with Moonraker, On line casino Royale and The Vacationer, which starred Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, being filmed there.
The Restaurant Terrazza Danieli, with its breathtaking views of the lagoon, might be the most well-liked spot in Venice for marriage proposals.
Final yr, the resort terrace performed host to a lavish social gathering thrown in honour of that yr’s jury president, Bernardo Bertolucci, the Oscar-winning director of The Final Emperor.
The theme was Bertolucci’s best hits so, exhibiting a wierd sense of humour, the resort’s chef had organized for the butter to be sculpted in homage to Marlon Brando’s well-known intercourse scene in Final Tango In Paris.
One monumental movie set: Daniel Craig and Eva Inexperienced (proper of shot) filmed the climax of On line casino Royale in Venice
If cinema doesn’t float your boat, the competition coincides with two spectacular occasions – the Regatta Storica and the unmissable arts and structure extravaganza, the Biennale.
Venice has hosted the Regatta Storica, the historic ceremonial pageant and gondola race down the Grand Canal, since 1315.
On the primary Sunday of September, hundreds congregate to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous boats and the brightly colored contributors who compete in conventional Venetian costumes for hotly contested prizes of pennants and the title King Of The Oar.
Little has modified since Canaletto painted the scene in 1740 – other than air pollution.
Pity any gondolier who falls into the water. When filming David Lean’s Summertime, Katharine Hepburn needed to fall into the canal backwards. She suffered a continual eye an infection for the remainder of her life which she blamed on the Venetian waters.
The most effective locations to observe all of the regatta motion is the terrace of the Resort Bauer Palazzo, the place Madonna threw her social gathering to have fun the premiere of her movie about Wallis Simpson, W.E. Above the terrace, the love scenes from the long-lasting Venetian thriller Do not Look Now, starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, had been shot.
Value exploring is the thirteenth century church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli (St Nicholas of the Beggars), which Sutherland’s character is restoring within the movie.
Stars of a distinct variety: Characters from the large hit Despicable Me pose in a water taxi on the Excelsior Resort
It’s located within the tranquil quarter of Dorsoduro – and its shady courtyard, overlooking a bit of canal, gives a welcome respite from the vacationers and the scorching solar. The success of the film helped the church increase the funds essential to revive it.
A preferred restaurant with festival-goers is Locanda Cipriani on the romantic island of Torcello, the primary Venetian island to be inhabited, and nonetheless blissfully peaceable, with sheep usually wandering round its fairly city sq.. The island options in Betrayal, Harold Pinter’s play about marital infidelity (impressed by his personal real-life affair with Joan Bakewell).
The restaurant backyard is the scene of many marriage proposals – but when the large query fails to materialise over a meal there, within the close by cathedral courtyard is a stone throne, supposedly constructed by Atilla the Hun. Legend has it that whoever sits on it is going to be married inside a yr.
Casanova would have run a mile.
This yr’s competition opens on August 27 with the world premiere of Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and Naomi Watts.
On this period of perpetual change, there’s something life-affirming concerning the old-world glamour of the Venice Movie Pageant. With its collection of cinema from all around the world, it’s following in one of the best traditions of Venice’s favorite son, the famend adventurer Marco Polo.
If he had been alive in the present day, it’s absolutely a competition he would need to discover.
Frank Mannion is a movie producer whose film The Quispe Ladies gained Finest Cinematography at Venice 2013.
Journey details: Plan your individual date with the celebs on the Venice Movie Pageant
Kirker Holidays (www.kirkerholidays.com, 020 7593 2283) provides a spread of luxurious breaks to Venice throughout the movie competition. Costs begin at £1,325 per particular person for 4 nights on the Luna Baglioni, together with return British Airways flights from Gatwick, B&B lodging, water-taxi transfers, entrance to the Doge’s Palace and information notes, plus concierge service.
