The Venice film festival is still planning to run in early September as usual, despite the problems that have beset other film festivals due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with news agency Ansa, Roberto Cicutto, president of the Venice Biennale, which oversees the film festival, confirmed it would go ahead on 2 September as planned.
Cicutto appeared to pour cold water on the idea that Venice would somehow collaborate with the Cannes film festival, which recently conceded it would be unable to go ahead in its “original form” in its traditional mid-May slot.
Cicutto suggested that a “semi-liberation” of Italy’s lockdown would enable the film programme to go ahead.