Venice Film Festival to hold international conference to celebrate its 90th anniversary

La Biennale di Venezia — the parent organization of the Venice International Film Festival — has announced that it will be celebrating the 90th anniversary of the event, which was first held from 6 to 21 August 1932. Organized on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido di Venezia, the first festival was named Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica before its name was changed in 1934. 

A series of initiatives have been announced to mark the anniversary, the first being an international conference to be held on 9 July 2022. The conference will open with the presentation of the Italian edition of the monumental History of the Venice International Film Festival by professor Gian Piero Brunetta. The publication will be followed by the English edition of the book curated by La Biennale and will be presented at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022.

Historians, critics and academics will reflect upon the value of the historical experience of the Venice International Film Festival at the event.

The conference will conclude with the screening of one film included in the line-up of the first edition of the Venice Film Festival in 1932.

Ca’ Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale, will also host a temporary exhibition dedicated to the first edition of the festival, which will be open to the public starting in July. 

The 2022 edition of the festival will take place from 31 August to 10 September.