DUBAI: Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera spoke to Deadline magazine at the midway point of the famed Italian event and touched on the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza and related protests in Venice.
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Thousands of anti-war protesters attended a march on Saturday, with Barbera telling Deadline the protesters did not wish to enter the festival grounds.
“They didn’t want to enter. I think around 30 people tried. I asked the organizers of the protest whether they wanted to send a delegation to the red carpet and they said they weren’t interested in doing that and that they didn’t want to interfere with the festival.”
When pushed by Deadline, whose journalist Andreas Wiseman said: “I thought they had said they wanted to march to the festival center,” Barbera countered with: “No, I don’t think so. I offered them a place on the carpet and they said no.”
