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Alberto Barbera

Artistic Director, Biennale Cinema / Venice Film Festival (2025-2026), La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Film Festival / Biennale Cinema)

Search every verified Alberto Barbera interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Alberto Barbera, artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, opened the 2026 edition with a press conference on September 2, where he discussed the festival's selection process and addressed the composition of this year's competition lineup. During the conference, he stated that the selection process, which spans roughly nine months, operates without prejudice regarding form or content, with the sole criterion being the quality of the film and the director's ability to translate their vision into a complete work. He also commented on the festival's changing audience, saying that young people's interest in cinema has shifted and that he has observed a generational transformation among attendees over his 15 years in Venice. The festival reported selling 14% more tickets than the previous edition. In a podcast interview with Luca Zaia on August 26, Barbera reflected on his career and the festival's history, recounting instances where Venice had rejected films that later gained acclaim, such as David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, describing these as evaluation errors that now seem inexplicable. He also discussed the festival's documentary programming, noting the creation of a new section called Film on Film for documentaries about cinema, and mentioned plans to honor director Tinto Brass. When asked what advice he would give his younger self, he said he would encourage following one's passion and taking risks in pursuit of work that is fulfilling, rather than being driven solely by financial necessity.

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Notable quotes

“I have practically, I won't say all my life, but almost, been a festival director, first in Turin and then in Venice, and I must say I have always been very lucky. It takes passion, competence, experience, dedication, and also a bit of luck. I have always been very lucky because I have always managed to work in situations where I was given almost absolute freedom, total autonomy in the choice of films. I never had to”

“I think that film allows an opening of empathy inside ourselves. I don't believe there is any film that shouldn't be. I think we can challenge ourselves to hear stories about the most corrupt, the most perverse people because it opens the opportunity to find empathy for those people and even to look at the ways in which we might have a little bad guy, a little perversity inside us, a little corruption inside us, figh”

“Venezia rifiutò Velluto Blu di David Lynch, è un film straordinario, no? Perché a Gianluigi Rondi sembrava offensivo nei confronti di Isabella Rossellini che ricorderete compare nuda in un film vittima di questa. Oppure quando Venezia rifiutò Gli spietati di Clint Eastwood che poi vinse l'Oscar quell'anno addirittura. Ecco, sono errori di valutazione che oggi ci sembrano inspiegabili.”

“Credo che sia la logica delle quote sia lo strumento più inefficace, per non dire sbagliato, che si possa applicare in una situazione di questo tipo... Non credo che lo strumento sia quello di stabilire in tutti i settori, compreso quello artistico, delle quote che garantiscono una partecipazione anche alle donne e in maniera paritaria rispetto ai loro colleghi maschi. L'unico criterio, io credo, sia quello della qua”

“Oggi rivedere il cinema classico americano costringe a fare una riflessione... su quanto il cinema abbia contribuito in maniera decisiva e fondamentale a costruire il mito di un'America che in realtà non esiste. L'America come patria della democrazia, come luogo della realizzazione individuale, come il paradiso delle opportunità offerte a chiunque... tutte cose che esistono soltanto nel cinema americano e non nella r”

“è assodato che ogni euro investito nel sostegno alle produzioni cinematografiche ha una ricaduta di tre volte e mezzo rispetto all'investimento. Quindi non sono soldi regalati a un settore e ai suoi addetti, ma sono soldi che ritornano sul territorio in termini di visibilità, di promozione del territorio stesso, ma anche di ricadute economiche significative per tutte le attività che ruotano attorno alla produzione ci”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →