(Rome) Alberto Barbera, artistic director of the Venice Film Festival since 2012, has been reappointed for two years, the Venice Biennale, the institution that oversees the dean of film festivals, announced on Friday.
Alberto Barbera, 74, whose previous mandate was to end at the end of the 81e edition of the Mostra, which will be held from August 28 to September 7, will therefore remain in charge for the 2025 and 2026 editions.
“I have great respect for the competence, professionalism and passion that he demonstrated during his years at the head of the Mostra, to the point of succeeding in increasing the prestige of the oldest festival in the world,” said explained the president of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, quoted in the press release.
Alberto Barbera, who had already directed the Mostra from 1998 to 2001, greatly contributed to making the Mostra a launching pad for Hollywood, whose stars parade every year on the Lido, and a springboard for the Oscars.
From 2004 to 2016 he directed the National Cinema Museum in Turin. Since 2019, he has been among the 500 most influential people in the entertainment world established by the American magazine Variety. In 2000, he received the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Republic.