Alberto Barbera Renewed As Venice Film Festival Artistic Director For 2025 and 2026

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read

Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, whose current mandate is due to expire after the upcoming 81st edition, has been renewed in the role for 2025 and 2026.

Parent body La Biennale di Venezia said its board of directors, chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, had approved the extension of his mandate on the basis of his achievements in the role to date.

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“I felt an immediate understanding with Alberto Barbera and I have great respect for the expertise, professionalism and passion he has demonstrated in the years that he has directed the Venice Film Festival, which have enhanced the prestige of the oldest film festival in the world. I am extremely pleased that La Biennale will continue down this path with him,” said Pietrangelo Buttafuoco.

The move ends speculation over Barbera’s future which had been up in the air, in part due to a changing political landscape in Italy and the recent appointment of Buttafuoco, which had raised some eyebrows in the industry.

Barbera has been the Artistic Director of the La Biennale di Venezia’s Cinema Department since 2012. He also previously held the position from 1998 to 2001.

Born in Biella in 1950, following his degree in Modern Literature from the Università di Torino with theses on Film History and Criticism, Barbera began his collaboration with A.I.A.C.E. (the Italian association of friends of arthouse cinema) which he chaired from 1977 to 1989.

From 1980 to 1983 he was a critic for the daily newspaper La Gazzetta del Popolo, and since 1982 he has been a member of the Journalists’ Union.

He has written for many daily newspapers and periodicals (Città, La Stampa, Essai, Altro Cinema, Bianco & Nero, Cineforum), and collaborated with television and radio programmes such as Cinemascoop (RAI 3), La lampada di Aladino (RAI – DSE), Hollywood Party (Radio3 RAI).

In 1982 he began to collaborate with the Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani (now the Torino Film Festival), serving as its Director from 1989 to 1998. From 2002 to 2006 he was the co-director of RING! Festival della Critica in Alessandria. In 2002 he became a consultant for the National Museum of Cinema in Turin and from June 2004 to December 2016 served as its Director.

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