It's only Day 2 of the Venice Film Festival, and there's already trouble a-brewing... Why is press access to talent so hard this year?
ADVERTISEMENTCompared to Cannes, the Venice Film Festival is a much more mellow affair for journalists.
Go figure, especially considering the festival’s line-ups have cemented it as theunmissable Oscars launchpad. Still, the queues don't feel as intense and there's a general air of lunacy that seems to be missing.
Better organizing? Friendlier teams with significantly less mad airport security checks before screenings? The Lido sea air chilling everyone out? Whatever the case may be, Venice has always been Cannes' less stressful and cooler older sister.
However, this year’s 81st edition has a problem: a lack of press access to talent, with a notable lack of junkets this year. This has led many to decry that "cinema journalism is at risk of extinction”.
Now, film critics complaining at a festival in sunny Venice sounds like smallest violin stuff; but this represents a sizeable problem, as we're here to work. And the days are longer than a bloody Leonard Cohen song.
A frequent comment I often get before heading to Berlin, Cannes or Venice is: "Well, it's alright for some...”
Yes, it is. It’s nothing short of a privilege to be at these events, and even after covering these three film festivals for more than 10 years now, I’m always reminded of how lucky I am to be playing in this particular sandbox. However, it's also 10 days of high pressure with an average of four films a day, press conferences, interviews, and as much writing as you can fit in in between these schedule-jamming events. And traditionally, there's access to talent.
But not this year.
Now, more than 50 international journalists have signed a message criticising the lack of press access to major talent at the 81st edition, stating that “cinema journalism is at risk of extinction”.
Bit of an overstatement? Not as much as you might think.
It kick-started with a German journalist taking it upon herself to ask for a mic at the press conference I was at yesterday. She succinctly and very accurately called out the festival for failing to facilitate interactions and communication with the talent present on the Lido this year.
Indeed, some of the buzziest titles playing in Venice, such as Angelina Jolie-starrer Maria; Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt; and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, with Daniel Craig, won’t be doing any press besides the festival press conferences.
So, no roundtables - let alone one-on-ones where journalists like myself can write up an interview or grab a few decent soundbites.
What makes the situation doubly galling is that this year's festival has been described by Venice Film Festival Artistic director Alberto Barbera as an edition “with the longest list of talents” in recent memory – especially after the A-list deprived 2023 edition, due to the ripple effects of the SAG-AFTRA strike in the US.
The journalist in question stated that there was no reason given for the press-talent blackout, and that these press junkets represent a significant professional (and therefore financial) quandary, as journalists depend on direct interactions with the talent in order to do our jobs and produce exclusive articles on the festival.
ADVERTISEMENTBarbera responded to the journalist by saying: “I am not aware of this situation,” adding: “I don’t think it concerns the bulk of the line-up.”
It does. It really does.
He added that he would “try and add some pressure but there’s no way the festival can force the press officers of the distributors to release interviews if they don’t want to,” and that ultimately, “these are marketing decisions - we don’t manage talents."
That’s fair enough, especially since films that haven’t yet secured distribution deals in major territories have their sales agents hold back press access. It’s a catastrophically stupid move, but the festivals themselves can’t be held accountable. Unless they make the teams agree to at least a bare minimum level of press access that goes beyond the trade papers like Variety and Hollywood Reporter.
ADVERTISEMENTNo shade and nothing but love, but some of us are jonesing for quotes too... And considering journalists spend a significant chunk of money getting accredited, flying over to Italy, and securing lodgings for the duration of the festival, you need something to show for it - aside from reviews and the odd article whinging about the lack of access.
In the journalists’ aforementioned statement, originally posted by Italian freelance journalist Marco Consoli, they state that the current situation “puts in jeopardy an entire category of journalists, particularly freelancers, who with their passionate and relentless work often help in the success of films”.
That we do, as without press attendance and no one to write reviews and interviews, festivals fall apart.
"We ask to change this policy that has long contaminated all the major festivals and to return to offering interview junkets to the press at film festivals,” the message adds.
ADVERTISEMENTPreach.
While I’m at it - in for a penny, in for a pound... There's another snag that makes this year's situation even more frustrating.
You see, ever since the Venice Film Festival moved its press conference room from what is now the Sala Casino to a smaller room next to the press area, getting into press conferences is noticeably harder.
I got lucky with the Sigourney Weaver press conference yesterday, but prior to writing this article, I waited for more than an hour in line to attend the PC for Maria, hoping to get a few quotes from Angelina Jolie for her stunning outing in Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic.
ADVERTISEMENTAs you've probably guessed by now, I didn't get in.
It happens and there's no need to throw a wobbly about it. However, lack of access is purely because the new room is, despite some lovely ornate mosaics: a) significantly smaller compared to the previous space, which is an issue when you think that a sizeable percentage of the 2,900 accredited media professionals want to get in; b) not vacant, as the organisation does not ensure that the journalists attending the previous press conference leave the area for the next one; and c) pales in comparison to the roomier press conference spaces in Berlin and Cannes, the access to which are easy-peasy compared to Venice’s current digs.
A lack of direct junket access means that many journalists like myself find themselves restricted to press conferences as the sole opportunity to engage with talent. But if that access is also restricted, then something has to be done...
Venice, I love you but you’re bringing me down – to bastardise an LCD Soundsystem song. At least sort out the press conference access. To bastardise the title of Almodóvar’s new film, screening in this year’s Competition this year - get a (bigger) room next door.
ADVERTISEMENTThe 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival started yesterday with the Out of Competition screening of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The Competition strand officially kicked off today with Pablo Larraín’s Maria. Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our full review. And no quotes from Angelina.
