The answer is yes, it is, and to explain this claim we must begin with a premise: the International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art is part of the Venice Biennale system, a cultural foundation, among the most important in Italy, which deals not only with cinema but also with art, architecture, dance, music and theatre. The foundation also oversees, for example, the famous International Art Exhibition of Venice, which every two years presents the latest developments in the most cutting-edge contemporary art.
In 2021, on the occasion of the seventy-eighth edition of the Film Festival, the Venice Biennale foundation obtained Carbon Neutral certification. Achieving carbon neutrality means having zero emissions, because one’s harmful emissions are low enough to be completely reabsorbed, without impacting the environment.
As is well known, achieving carbon neutrality across Europe is one of the goals that the European Union has set for 2050. This is why it is important that entire territorial areas, regions and cities, but also individual events and festivals, set themselves this goal and obtain Carbon Neutral certification as soon as possible.
In this respect, the Venice Film Festival has moved ahead, becoming the first film event of this scale to obtain the certification. From 2022, the entire Biennale system was then declared Carbon Neutral, thus extending the focus on environmental sustainability to all its events.
Is all that glitters gold?
The Film Festival therefore appears to be a virtuous example of sustainability, and it certainly is for the reasons given above. However, how sustainable is everything that surrounds the Festival? The official website contains precise guidelines for the very many people who take part in the event each year. For example, it is recommended to reach the Lido on foot or by public transport, to travel to Venice by train and bus, and, if you really have to fly, to offset your CO2 emissions when buying your ticket.
These recommendations are undoubtedly reasonable, but there is a catch: they seem to ignore, on the one hand, the fact that the stars and the numerous guests at the Festival arrive at the Lido by private motorboat and hardly ever reach Venice on scheduled flights, and, on the other, that the crowds drawn by the Festival tire out a city that is already suffering. During the Festival, Venice experiences a considerable increase in visitors and traffic, with resulting complaints from residents, and this prompts reflection on its future. Speaking of sustainability, how much longer can fragile, extremely fragile Venice bear all this?
What future for Venice?
The problem of the crowds that throng the city every day, generating traffic that daily endangers a place protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is not, however, ignored by the Venetian institutions. Many steps forward have been taken in recent years: among the best known and most debated, for example, is the ban on cruise ships passing through (and causing enormous damage to) the Grand Canal; but investments in cycle paths, eco-friendly buses, zero-emission waterbuses and hybrid car sharing have also been, and continue to be, constant items in the budget.
Moreover, it was recently announced that the Metropolitan City of Venice is at the centre of a global competition, the Sustainable Cities Challenge, which aims to develop low- or zero-emission transport networks and to find innovative solutions that can encourage their use among residents, who are often hostile and loyal to their private vehicles. The project involves three cities: Venice for Europe, Varanasi (India) for Asia, and Detroit in the USA, and, in the event of a win, it entails the award of around three million dollars to carry out the winning ideas. The results will be known in 2025, so for the moment we can only keep our fingers crossed!
A change of course that decongests Venice, making it more liveable for citizens and tourists, and that protects it from a decline undermining a historical, artistic and cultural heritage unique in the world, is, after all, inevitable. Of course, for this to happen, there must be shared participation, involving not only the institutions, visitors and the local community, but also bodies such as the Biennale, which with its events contributes to a considerable increase in crowds and traffic. For the Film Festival, therefore, Carbon Neutral certification must be only the beginning of a process of change that must also concern everything revolving around it.
