Celebrating 80 Years of the Venice Film Festival
To list the numbers of the Venice Film Festival, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2023, we cannot forget the 20 godmothers and 2 godfathers who preceded Caterina Murino in the role of host/hostess of the festival. Every artist puts in their own: there are those who take it very seriously and want to send activist messages and those who prefer to be the carefree note in a Show that is also a competition and in fact opens the season of awards that culminate with the Oscars.
The Iconic Arrival of the Godmothers and Godfathers
A figure who begins their tenure arriving by boat and throwing themselves into the water, to frame in an iconic way the uniqueness of the Lido and of this event. Whether it’s a Bond Girl like Caterina Murino or a showgirl turned actress (like Ambra Angiolini), each tricolor talent (or naturalized Italian, like Kasia Smutniak and Rocio Munoz Morales) brings their own characteristics to the red carpet. It is not always a happy moment: the loss of Vittoria Puccini’s mother in 2011 has gone down in history, when the actress had to be absent to attend the funeral and return to Venice for the closing ceremony.
The First Ever Godmother
The first ever to take on the task was in 2000: Chiara Caselli welcomed the change of millennium with artists from all over the world. After her: Stefania Rocca, Alessandra Martines, Claudia Gerini, Inés Sastre, Isabella Ferrari, Ambra Angiolini, Ksenia Rappoport, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Isabella Ragonese, Vittoria Puccini, Kasia Smutniak, Eva Riccobono, Luisa Ranieri, Elisa Sadnaoui, Sonia Bergamasco, Anna Foglietta, Serena Rossi and Rocio Munoz Morales. The two male editions are those of Alessandro Borghi and Michele Riordino (respectively in 2017 and 2018) and last year it was Caterina Murino’s turn.
