Climate activists from all over Europe are occupying the red carpet of the 76th Venice Film Festival

7 / 9 / 2019

On a day when the Venetian smart set will be under the spotlight, we are reminding everybody that climate change is not a spectacular set for sci-fi movies, but the reality we are already living and experiencing, a downward spiral that extractive capitalism is not willing to stop. We need to change the course, to reduce global warming, end fossil energy (in all of its forms), decolonize the global economy – responsible of people-on-the-move’s drama-, refuse a system wherein the violence over non-human nature is accompanied by gender discriminations, fight against a model of territorial management based on useless and harmful major works. Cinema has already narrated the tragedy of climate crisis: the choice of occupying the red carpet is thus not accidental. 

In the early morning, the activists from Venice Climate Camp occupied the red carpet of Venice Film festival. Shortly afterwards, hundreds of other activists reached the red carpet in solidarity. Many voices were given a platform: from the local committees to the European movements, including Fridays for Future. In this moment, the police is approaching the red carpet area to provoke the occupation. The activists remain seated, as a sign of resistance, waiting for a possible police attack. All the access routes to Venice Film Festival are closed, the law enforcement is not permitting anyone to bring food and water to the demonstrators.

After more than 7 hours of occupation of the red carpet, the climate activists took awareness of the guilty silence of La biennale and they head back to the camp. A lost chance for such an institution, that however has been forced to face the fact that the red carpet has turned green.
This is an historical protest: for the first time in 76 years of the festival, the traditional show of the last day was conquered by social movements