Venice International Film Festival 2020: New Safety Guidelines Include Constant Mask Use, Private Red Carpet Events

Venice hopes to prevent any further COVID-19 outbreak through a strict mask requirement, reserved seating, and reduced crowd sizes

Film festival premieres are very exclusive events, and this year’s Venice International Film Festival is making it even more so. That is…they’re making it much more restrictive.

The Italian film festival will require attendees to wear a face mask throughout the entirety of the festival’s events. This includes through the duration of film screenings, as well as other activities at the Biennale later in the season.

These rules are a step up from the laxer regulations for Italian movie theaters in general, which only require patrons to wear a mask as they enter the theater but allows for their removal once they are in their seats.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, nine separate entry gates will be set up along the Venice Lido – the beach where the festival is held – to prevent overcrowding. Officials will be set up at each gate to take every patron’s temperature. Any attendees arriving from outside of Europe – particularly from outside the open-border Schengen Area – must also take a coronavirus test before arriving in the city and again upon entering the festival grounds.

Smaller Crowds

Venice is also scaling back its numbers this year by limiting red-carpet events to attendees and certified personnel only. The general public is usually permitted to attend these festival events, but access this year is restricted over health concerns. Filmmakers and stars will be provided transport and extra security by the festival’s organizers, should crowds still form against regulations.

All attendees will be required to reserve their tickets online prior to their screenings and other events. This will help festival organizers ensure that social distancing is being maintained. Indoor events will also be highly monitored for similar reasons.

Venice, which is the first major film festival with a physical iteration since the coronavirus pandemic started back in March, is taking a very cautious approach so as not to cause another outbreak. Earlier in 2020 Italy was a COVID-19 epicenter, but the country got it under control after a 10-weeks-long lockdown. THR reports that even though infections are down from what they were months ago the country is now “dealing with a rebound of cases”, most likely due to seasonal travel.

Leave your thoughts on the Venice International Film Festival’s health and safety restrictions for their upcoming festival (via THR) in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. For more Venice International Film Festival news coverage, photos, videos, and information, visit our Film Festival Page. This year’s Venice International Film Festival will be held from September 2-12, 2020 in Venice, Italy. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.