Granted, it wouldn’t be a film festival if some sort of polemic didn’t arise and this year’s 81st Venice International Film Festival will probably go down in history as the beginning of the end for independent film journalism. Here’s why.

I usually defend the festival in Venice with nails drawn, but this year I’ve got to join the crowds of colleagues who are complaining. If we stay silent, our very existence will be at risk.

Before I even hit the ground in Venice, there was a storm brewing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the weather forecast is deliciously free of rain and thunder, and the latter can often mean torrential downpours on the Lido. However this year the tempest is an intellectual one.

After the 2023 edition of the Venice Film Festival, which took place in the midst of SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes thus ensuring most of the red carpets for big budget, Hollywood productions were devoid of their stars and filmmakers, this year’s line up announcement brought delight to a journalist’s eyes. I salivated over the star power which includes Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria, Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie a Deux and a series helmed by Alfonso Cuarón for Apple TV. 

But the past month, since the press conference announcement back in mid-July, has been a time of anger, frustration and disappointment for this freelancer, and many, many other.

During the build up to the festival, any festival, a freelance journalist pitches stories to various outlets they have worked with, and at the same time, they approach the publicists working on the films during the event. There is always some negotiating going on, and it usually includes writing about some of the less star-power infused projects the publicists are representing, which always works out well for all involved. Often that is how one discovers hidden gems and interviews people whose stories prove more fascinating than any star’s life. 

This time though, most of the films, and the series mentioned above, are doing “Official Festival activities only” which means the delegations — cast and crew — will be on the red carpet for their official premiere and will pose for photographers before entering a room filled to capacity with journalists from all over the world to do a press conference. That lasts 30 minutes and usually includes three or four non-questions from people gushing about a particular star and moments lost in silly queries about something that has nothing to do with the project being presented. 

Then, off they go into the sunset of film festival adieus forever, and a freelancer like me, who doesn’t depend on clickbait headlines (you know the kind we always click on, on X and Facebook and find ourselves — surprise! — disappointment by with the AI sounding piece that follows the enticing headline) is left out of a story. Many stories, as this year this nonsense is repeated for nearly all the big name projects on the Lido. 

Now, if this were only happening to me, I could tap into my imposter’s syndrome at its lowest point and imagine that it’s just me, I’m not worthy, I should stay in my place, even though I sometimes write for such fabulous publications like Flaunt Magazine and CULTUR.art. But it’s not, this is not only happening to me, it is a widespread disaster which has taken over our preparation for this festival and distracted more than 50 of us, from all over the world, some even voting members of prestigious awards, from the typical enthusiasm we feel coming to Venice. 

This used to be the Festival of Festivals, the place where everything was possible, in professional terms. The films we used to watch here were sure contenders for the upcoming award season and we rushed, excited, from screenings to interviews, back to screenings and even hit some parties, knowing we were experiencing history. Not this year. Or maybe yes, we are experiencing history — the kind we experience when a train crash causes a toxic spill in a town like Palestine, USA. Or the Israelis and Hamas fight to the death of their own people. 

From the festival organizers POV it is completely understandable that they invite important films to their event. That’s what a great Artistic Director like Venice’s Alberto Barbera is supposed to do. And in fact, I don’t hold the festival accountable for this fiasco. No, it’s deeper than that, because if Barbera asked film delegations to sign an agreement that they would do tot amount of interviews on the Lido, the studios and companies behind the projects would simply take their films elsewhere. Toronto, and Telluride (who famously like to lift journalists’ writing for their in-house printed magazine) are right around the corner after all. And the French have us believe there is no place like Cannes. 

But those same studios, and production companies, what exactly are they trying to achieve? As one journalist on the FB group for international press pointed out,  do they want all critics and interviewers to go away, so they can rely on positive reviews written by AI which they can then spread around through their marketing teams? That would be a shame. 

We seem to be witnessing the end of intelligent, thought-provoking, independent and unbiased cinematic journalism, in favor of aforementioned clickbait, AI sounding crap which pleases no one, except those making money from it, and robs humanity of any culture that is still left. 

What is baffling to this writer is that this time last year, all those stars, writers and filmmakers here this year doing their “Official Festival” activities only were on strike to save the future of their jobs. Yet not a single one of them is standing up for our profession now, to help save the future of our jobs, the journalists who help fuel their popularity and write about their projects. 

Everything is OK, as long as the shoe is on the other foot, or rather, someone else is wearing the one that will make you lame. 

Adding to the frustration is a smaller press conference room, which means less seats to even try to get a sound byte for journalists who wish to ask that one question to someone like Angeline Jolie, Brad Pitt and Tim Burton, just to mention a few.

The only great, wonderful thing to come out of this year’s struggles is the ability to concentrate on the beautiful, new wave of Italian cinema that is here on the Lido, for the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival. And if that was the master plan all along, well then, the powers that be have succeeded. Long Live Italian Cinema!

Top image from Joker: Folie a Deux about which THR stated: “One major exception to the no junket rule is Warner Bros. Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips’ hotly anticipated sequel to his 2019 Joker, with stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga both doing extensive international press in Venice.”