Venice Film Festival: luxury and the star system go wild

The Festival, which takes place in the City of the Doges, is one of the most important in the world, challenging even the iconic Cannes Festival. Between 2022 and 2024, films from the Venice festival received 77 Oscar nominations, compared with 56 for those shown on the Croisette. The precious golden statue was awarded to 14 films presented at the Mostra, compared with just five Oscars for films competing on the Croisette.

So the Festival is attracting more and more luxury brands, many of which arrived this year to dress the international actors and actresses and sponsor the event. Jury president Isabelle Huppert wore a haute couture gown by Balenciaga, while Monica Bellucci delighted the audience with an outfit inspired by the gothic world of Tim Burton, by Vivienne Westwood. The event's godmother, Italian actress Sveva Alviti, who played the singer Dalilda on the silver screen, chose Armani Privé creations, as did American star Cate Blanchett, actor Michal Keaton and Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore.

Teen idol Jenna Ortega showed up in Dior, while Sigourney Wever, awarded the 'Golden Lion' for lifetime achievement, chose an embroidered Chanel model inspired by a 2019 haute couture collection. Finally, the Festival is proving to be an essential playground for testing the success of a new style. For example, Alessandro Michele, who quietly moved from the Gucci world to that of Valentino Garavani, dressed the Italian actor Alessandro Borghi and tested his Resort 2025 collection with the public and the media.

But how much is the luxury sector investing in the Festival? While it is difficult to quantify the economic return for brands, which depends on several factors and variables, the business linked to the event continues to grow each year: the number of accreditations rises by 5% to 10% each year, increasing the Festival's visibility and its economic and institutional weight.

Some 23 million euros are invested each year, of which two million euros, or 10% of the total, come from ticket sales, 14 million from the Italian Ministry of Culture, a further two million from the Fondazione Biennale, and five million euros from private sponsors. These include the main sponsor, Cartier, followed by Campari, Armani Beauty and Mastercard.

All the stars gather for the second half of the evening on the terrace of the Gritti Palace, which has a bird' s-eye view of the city and has been specially designed by Cartier to welcome its guests. Since 2021, the brand has joined forces with La Biennale di Venezia to become the Festival's official partner. According to rumours swirling around the lagoon, the luxury house could well remain so for the next three years.

Cartier supports contemporary cinema through exhibitions, sponsorship, master classes and a prestigious prize, the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award. At the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido, this year's award was presented to French director Claude Lelouch, who won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and two Oscars in 1967.