The glamorous allure of cinema and the passion for wine meet at the Venice Film Festival

From Lady Gaga, starring in Todd Phillips’ “Joker: folie à deux” by Todd Phillips, to Angelina Jolie, as Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s film (in whose stellar cast are Pierfrancesco Favino, Valeria Golino and Alba Rohrwacher), from Brad Pitt and George Clooney, together in Jon Watts’ “Wolfs”, to Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, Pedro Almodóvar’s muses for “The Room Next Door”, and Nicole Kidman, starring with Antonio Banderas in Halina Reijn’s “Baby Girl”, just to name a few of the most anticipated returns to the Lido, alongside the likes of regulars Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Christophe Lambert, while also in competition will be Jude Law, Tye Sheridan, Adrien Brody and Daniel Craig, star of Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer”, among the five Italian films in the running, with Gianni Amelio’s “Campo di Battaglia” with Alessandro Borghi, Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio”, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s “Iddu” with Toni Servillo and Elio Germano, and Giulia Steigerwalt’s “Diva futura” with Pietro Castellitto, and among big Italian names alongside Paola Cortellesi, Valerio Mastandrea, Francesca Comencini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Sergio Rubini, Margherita Buy, Isabella Ferrari and Chiara Caselli in the closing film “L’orto americano” by Pupi Avati, while the opening film will be “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” by Tim Burton.
It will be a real parade of celebrities the red carpet of the “81. Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica” in Venice, who have always also been lovers of Italian wine, whose worldwide passion will join the glamorous appeal of cinema starting with the official bubbly, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg, whose Consortium is a supporter of La Biennale - and for the next two editions - with the label “Riprese collinari” designed for the occasion (and with wineries such as Ruggeri, Villa Sandi, Val d’Oca, Bortolomiol ...), renewing a union that spans the history of world cinematography. And if the wines of Abruzzo are now regulars at the Festival, with Masciarelli wine exclusive partner of the Terrazza Cinematografo, and Fantini present in the Hollywood Celebrities Lounge (where press conferences are held), it will be a “premiere” that of Asolo Montello Docg, with Montelvini at Casa I Wonder of the well-known distribution and production company I Wonder Pictures.
A story in which, as we like to tell on WineNews, there is a real “gastronomic” vein in world cinematography, made up of a succession of extraordinary mother scenes in which the culinary gesture becomes a metaphor for life and the profound meaning of human relationships, from the very origins of cinema to the present day, from “Le repas de bébé” by the Lumière brothers (1895) to “Madame Clicquot. The Great Lady of Champagne” by director Thomas Napper coming out in theaters in the next few days. But which can also be the starting point for a fan's trip to the Italian wine territories that have been and continue to be sets of great cinema. A passion, after all, also for so many actors and directors who vacation in Italy every year (with Madonna’s reference to “La Dolce Vita” certainly not coincidental in her latest birthday trip to Italy, in this 2024 when the Festival also celebrates the 100th anniversary of Marcello Mastroianni’s birth) or who have become wine producers, in an increasingly crowded and stellar list of vip-vignerons that we update punctually. Above all, Italian wine also continues to be the toast of the most prestigious film events, from the Academy Awards to the Golden Globes, in Venice.
Where, between parties at the most famous historic venues in the Lagoon, from Harry's bar (but also the Lido’s Nicelli Airport chosen by Campari for the “Destination Red” event), to the Hotel Danieli, the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg will be the official bubbly of the different convivial moments, as a welcome aperitif offered to the celebrities, the juries chaired by Isabelle Huppert, the president of the Biennale Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and the director of the Mostra Alberto Barbera, and the institutions, guests at the opening (tomorrow) and closing (Sept. 7) gala dinners of La Biennale (which says, thus, goodbye to Champagne, ed.) at the Lido's Hotel Excelsior, but also in the most iconic venues of “Venice 81”, from Palazzo del Cinema to the restaurants of Terrazza Biennale and Palazzo del Casinò, managed by chef Tino Vettorello, with dishes and pairings created ad hoc with wineries such as Bival, Bortolomiol, Colli del Soligo, Terre del Cima, Mionetto, Ruggeri, Val d’Oca, Valdo and Villa Sandi.
“Like a film”, explains the president of the Consortium, Franco Adami, ”a glass of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore is the result of craftsmanship, the result of skilled workers capable of conveying extraordinary emotions through their work. The collaboration with La Biennale di Venezia allows us to bring the name and bubbles of Conegliano Valdobbiadene to the widest and at the same time authoritative audiences in Italy and around the world. The presence of our product in cultural contexts of such international prominence helps consolidate a positioning that our bubbles, produced on impervious and heroic territories such as the Rive del Conegliano Valdobbiadene, deserve”. It is no coincidence that “hill shots” is the idea behind the 2024 label, created by mimicocodesign+DeRiva, which dresses all the bottles: two “humanized” cameras that roam among the vineyards and, like silent and attentive observers, capture the magic of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and spread it around the world. But during the days of the Mostra, the Consortium’s support will also be with the return on air of the advertising campaign starring actor Giorgio Pasotti (from August 25 to October 5, on the main Rai networks, on Rai Play and on the Rai Cinema circuit, and on the radio on Gedi Group stations such as Radio DeeJay, Radio Capital and Radio m2o and on the One Podcast circuit), guest of the Consortium during the opening ceremony of the Mostra. “Emotions are the uniting element between my work and the territory of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg”, says Giorgio Pasotti, “on these hills the winemakers have worked for centuries with great consistency of thought and unity of purpose. And they have come to have the fruit of all this work, which starts from caring for the land through a long series of historical and cultural elements. Behind it all is the strength of a community, which over the years has been able to build a project that in the end, manages to reach hearts and palates. And, just like the actor's craft, it ends up exciting. Curiously enough, this bond also has an anecdote far back in time: my absolute debut in the world of cinema took place right here, exactly in Vittorio Veneto, the town in fact had been chosen, along with other locations in Veneto, as the set for “I piccoli maestri”, a 1997 film by Daniele Luchetti based on the novel of the same name by Luigi Meneghello”.
Masciarelli Tenute Agricole returns to Venice as the exclusive wine partner of Terrazza Cinematografo, for the second year in a row, with the wines of the Abruzzo winery-the “oenological treasure” of Abruzzo, from Cerasuolo to Montepulciano, from Trebbiano to Pecorino and Abruzzo Doc, with the Villa Gemma, Gianni Masciarelli, and the recently acquired organic Chiamami Quando Piove - Valori Lines, as well as the high-end bubbles imported and distributed in Italy with Gianni's Selection, with Domaine des Baumard’s Crémant de Loire - the protagonists of all the initiatives organized in the sea-view outdoor space of the Hotel Excelsior, with the historic Rivista del Cinematografo, which gives its name to the Terrace, published by the Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo, promoter since 1947 of the film culture of the Bel Paese on the mandate of the Italian Episcopal Conference. “My daughters Chiara and Miriam and I have always supported art in all its forms through numerous projects”, explains Marina Cvetic, Masciarelli’s sole director, “which is why we were also particularly struck by the fascinating poster for this edition of the Mostra, which depicts an elephant as it crosses the Lagoon. This colorful and exotic symbol represents an enchanted and mysterious journey, the essence of cinema itself, and invites us to discover and let people discover different worlds. We at Masciarelli are excited to answer this call, proudly presenting the excellence of our region, convinced that cinema and wine can create valuable synergies and foster dialogue between cultures”. It seems from Abruzzo, as has become a tradition, Fantini wines - such as Don Camillo, an all-Abruzzo blend evoking the famous 1952 film starring Gino Cervi and Fernandel, alongside the award-winning Edizione Cinque Autoctoni, the bubbles of the Gran Cuvée Bianca and Rosé, the Calalenta Rosé and the Calalenta Pecorino - will be uncorked in the Hollywood Celebrities Lounge, a destination location for actors, directors and industry insiders, just a few steps from the red carpet, on Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi (location of the press conferences of the films in competition).
Debut, on the other hand, for Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg thanks to the collaboration between Montelvini and I Wonder Pictures, a famous film distribution and production company that distributes in Italian theaters some of the most interesting independent films on the international scene, which will see it present in combination with the menus dedicated to the Exhibition at Casa I Wonder (with Extra Brut Millesimato 2023, alongside the Zuitér Montello Rosso Docg 2019, Zuitér Montello Asolo Doc Manzoni Bianco 2022 and Luna Storta Passito), a convivial space designed as a meeting place to exchange ideas about the films in the competition, where cinema and food and wine come together to celebrate Italian excellence and the emotions they arouse. The curiosity? The “premiere” of Asolo Montello is linked to the centenary of the death of Eleonora Duse, the “Divine” Italian theater actress who spent part of her life in Asolo.