Venice Film Festival

Together we are 150. The world’s oldest film festival and Hollywood’s first international awards association celebrated their 75th anniversaries with a party and a joint announcement about the HFPA’s new Residency initiative, in partnership with Film Independent, which will bring three winners from the festival’s Orizzonti section (and three from TIFF) to Los Angeles next January for an intensive three-week mentorship program of lectures and one-on-one labs aimed at honing their skills.

“To me, it was a sign from God,” laughs Lady Gaga, referring to the now infamous lightning strike at the Sala Grande Theater, which caused a 20-minute projection outage during the world premiere of Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born here at the 75th Venice Film Festival. “The elements were with us and it was a beautiful moment.

A few months ago, we predicted that feathers would come on strong and that pink would be peaking. That prediction came true and as a result the Venice Film Festival’s carpet has been a feminine delight.

Lighter colors, soft peachy pink and beading caught the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival, while men went predictable.

Summer is over, and fall begins – and so the red carpet kicks off with the Venice Film Festival. Style, baby! Bright, beautiful STYLE.

It took a concentrated last-minute effort to get the Lido ready for the cinematic celebrations of the 75th Venice International Film Festival, but it was totally worth it. A rocking line-up of talent and titles is the perfect way to honor 75 years of cinema.

In a year when Hollywood had a massive presence on the Lido, smaller films from all corners of the world ended being selected by the jury for the top awards. The Golden Lion went to the Filipino revenge drama The Woman Who Left, by director Lav Diaz.

All festivals are, by their own nature, a perfect environment for promotion. The most spectacular feats of publicity are usually reserved for Venice's younger cousin, Cannes, but Lido & Lagoon have their own particular dose of look-at-me-strategies.

Yellow, color and nudes continue on track at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The trend is to be sedate and shocking simultaneously – oops did I forget my petticoat or did I really want to walk the red carpet in my undies with some very pretty net as a distraction? Yellow continued to be a choice – from muted gold to glimmering mustard and daisy fresh bright yellow, Jennifer Lopez’s Golden Globe statement has stayed.

For the last several years the Venice Film  Festival grounds, anchored by the Casino and the Palazzo del Cinema, also included a not-so-elegant  feature. We are talking about the football-field size hole in the ground that stood as a sad reminder of the thwarted new Cinema Palace.