The island of Lido is in Venice, but it can feel like the city’s opposite: gondolas give way to cars, canals become roads and the lagoon opens up into the Adriatic Sea.
Venetians spend their summer weekends on the roughly seven-mile-long island, crossing the lagoon to swim — bicycles fill the streets and cars arrive by ferry from the mainland.
But at the beginning of September, there is a shift from sand and sun to the cinema: For about ten days, filmmakers, actors, critics, photographers and audiences join the summer crowds for the Venice Film Festival, which runs Wednesday through Sept. 12. Hotels fill and the public water buses known as vaporetti carry a different kind of traffic across the lagoon.
This transformation has been taking place since the festival — the oldest one of its kind — began in 1932 with an outdoor screening on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior. Since then, cinema has become part of Lido’s architecture, history and identity. For most of the year, the Lido looks toward the sea. But in September, it looks toward the screen.
The Santa Maria Elisabetta waterbus terminal is the main gateway to the Lido from Venice. Vaporetti cross the lagoon throughout the day, carrying residents, beachgoers and visitors to the island. During the festival, the same water routes become the main arteries carrying audiences, journalists and film-industry workers to and from the Lido.
The facade of the Hotel Excelsior, one of the landmarks of the Lido and of the festival. In 1932, the hotel hosted the first edition of the festival. The first screenings took place on its terrace, before the Palazzo del Cinema existed, beginning a relationship between the Excelsior and the festival that has continued for nearly a century.
The private dock of the Hotel Excelsior, where water taxis arrive from across the Venetian Lagoon. During the festival, the dock becomes one of the main arrival points for actors, filmmakers and other festival guests staying at or visiting the hotel.
The interior of the Hotel Excelsior, which opened in 1908 as the Lido was developing into an international seaside resort.
The exterior of the Palazzo del Cinema, the main venue of the festival. Built in 1937 beside the Hotel Excelsior, the building gave the festival its first permanent home, five years after the inaugural screenings were held on the hotel’s terrace. Its facade and entrance remain the center of the festival each year, including the red carpet and its principal screenings.
The interior of the Palazzo del Casinò, which was conceived with monumental spaces decorated with marble, mosaics and artistic glass from Murano. Originally built for gambling, dining and entertainment, the former casino is now used by the festival for screenings and activities for the press and film industry.
The Golden Lion, the festival’s highest award, is made by the Venetian craftsman Cristiano Moschini and takes its name from the winged Lion of St. Mark, the symbol of Venice.
Traditional wooden beach huts line the Adriatic shore of the island. The small cabins, rented by families for the summer season, provide shade, privacy and a place to spend the day by the sea. They are a distinctive part of the Lido’s long history as a seaside resort and of the everyday beach culture that continues alongside the international spectacle of the film festival.
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