Thursday 1 September 2011

Venice Day to Day - 01


Wed Aug 31st at the 68th Venice Film Festival is off to an amazing start. A beautiful, hot sunny day, with top talent opening the event. Press have arrived from everywhere and it is a sea of camera's, press passes, lap tops and in the press room, hard work. The myetvmedia team is lucky and gets front row access in the Press Conference Room. (We did put in the work waiting for 2 hours before the ‘Ides of March’ conference began.)

High Points:

Press Conferences opens with Paulo Baratta & Marco Muller, (la Giuria 68 VFF). Then, the jury with Star power including multiple awarding winning director Darren Aronofsky (President) who draws most of the questions.

George Clooney arrives to introduce his much anticipated film "Ides of March". My ipad is essential and the translation headphones available on site. After a very entertaining press conference (a lot about seduction) the media stampede to the front table like kids to get a piece of the stars.

Low Points:
Being first timers we made some mistakes. One of our photographers after joyfully getting into the photo room was politely asked to leave when it was discovered we did not have the Maccheroni pass which you need to line up for everyday by 10am. (No up close with George today! Its really tough for first time press to get these passes.)  

We missed the 9am press screening of ‘Ides of March’ not understanding watertaxi schedules or boarding points around the canals. A ‘Times’ reporter sitting next to me in the conference described ‘Ides of March’ as “a taught, political thriller”. We will see it at TIFF. This just reminds me of our arrival from the airport. NEVER take the public watertaxi from Venice airport to the Stucky Molino Hilton unless you want a one hour water tour of Venice from every direction with multiple stops. (Jet lagged, hungry and hot, dragging all the cameras and luggage). The private boat would have been really worth it! Next time.

Internet is slow in the media room and spots at the tables are hard to get after 9:15 am.

Thrilled to be here, small, intimate and well organized.


List of press tips and tricks will be uploaded soon. 

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