The
Venice
Film
Festival
will
go
ahead
with
2020
edition
in
its
usual
early
September
slot,
according
to
Venice
Biennale
president
Roberto
Cicutto.
Cicutto
said
the
77th
edition
of
the
festival
will
take
place
from
September
2-12,
Variety
reported
quoting
Italian
news
agency
ANSA.
He
downplayed
the
possibility
of
collaboration
between
Venice
and
Cannes.
Cannes
organizers
recently
said
that
it
would
be
difficult
to
hold
the
festival
in
its
original
form
due
to
the
coronavirus
pandemic
but
they
continued
to
explore
options.
Cannes
director
Thierry
Fremaux
in
an
interview
with
Variety
had
mentioned
that
they
were
looking
at
the
possibility
of
doing
something
together
if
Cannes
was
cancelled.
We're
continuing
to
discuss
it,
he
had
said.
But
Cicutto
said
they
were
going
ahead
with
their
festival.
With
Cannes,
everything
is
possible,
but
I
find
it
disconcerting
that
Thierry
Fremaux
keeps
saying
he
is
continuing
to
examine
the
situation
and
does
not
say
what
he
wants
to
do.
We
are
going
forward
with
our
program,
and
if
Cannes
is
still
thinking
(about
their
course
of
action)
then
there
is
no
dialogue,
Cicutto
said.
He
specified
there
is
currently
no
hypothesis
on
the
table
for
a
joint
Venice-Cannes
initiative.
Cicutto
said
he
expected
a
lower
foreign
attendance
this
year
compared
to
last
editions
of
the
festival.
The
Biennale
has
given
itself
an
end
of
May
deadline
to
sort
out
more
details
of
the
upcoming
edition's
modalities,
he
added.
Italy
is
one
of
the
worst-hit
European
countries
from
the
pandemic
with
over
23,000
deaths.
The
country
continues
to
be
in
a
lockdown
but
there
is
some
hope
that
the
crisis
with
subside
there
sooner.
Cicutto
said
as
far
as
using
cinemas
for
the
festival
is
concerned,
he
is
expecting
Italian
authorities
to
grant
Venice
special
status.
It's
one
thing
to
manage
six
or
seven
circumscribed
movie
theatres,
as
opposed
to
thousands
of
movie
theatres
across
the
country,
he
said.