12 Venice Festival films to be shown online

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Venice Film Festival announced that all 12 feature length films in its Horizons section plus the three films produced out of the festival’s Biennale College initiative will be available online at the same time the films screen on the Venice Lido, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The initiative -- Venice is calling it “Web Theatre” -- is an expansion of last year’s plan that allowed part of the Horizons lineup to be available for streaming online. This year, the offering is expanded with the inclusion of the three finalists from he freshman edition of Biennale College, the fest’s ambitious co-production effort introduced by artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Venice’s well-regarded Horizons section focuses on new trends in cinema.

Other films screening on the Lido at the Aug. 28-Sept. 7 festival -- including from the main competition, out-of-competition films, the new Venice Classics sidebar, plus the autonomous Venice Days and Critics Week sections -- will not be available online. Officials did not rule out further expanding the number of films available online in future editions of the 70-year-old festival.

Each of the films available online will be viewable once per ticket during the 24-hour period that includes the film’s Venice premiere, from a secure site. The films will be screened in their original language with English subtitles when necessary.

Tickets for each screening will cost €4 ($5.24), and are already on sale from the Venice Biennale website. Sales will be capped at 500 tickets per film.