Canal+ will be the exclusive broadcaster of the 79th Venice International Film Festival – La Biennale di Venezia in France
Vivendi is to sponsor two landmark events organized by La Biennale di Venezia, for the next three years: the Venice International Film Festival and the Biennale College Cinema, which fosters the emergence of talented young directors through training workshops and the financing of first feature films.
In this context, Canal+ will be the sole broadcaster in France of the next editions of the Venice Film Festival starting with the 79th edition taking place from August 31 to September 10, 2022. It will also broadcast the event in several other countries in Europe as well as in French-speaking Africa.
Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Vivendi’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Italy is a key country for Vivendi. We already have a presence there as Telecom Italia’s largest shareholder and Havas is one of its largest communications agencies. We also want to play an important role in the development and promotion of Italian culture. Our support for the Biennale di Venezia, one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world, fits perfectly with this ambition, and I am grateful to Roberto Cicutto, the President of the Biennale di Venezia, for trusting us to ensure that Italian cinema gains even more international influence.”
In recent years, Canal+ has co-produced several outstanding Italian TV series, including Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope and The New Pope, ZeroZeroZero, Django, inspired by Sergio Corbucci’s film, and pre-purchases significant Italian productions. Studiocanal is handling the worldwide distribution of a catalog of more than 600 Italian films and has restored some 125 masterpieces of Italian cinema in close collaboration with the Cinetica di Bologna and L’Immagine Ritrovata, a specialized laboratory in Bologna.
Vivendi intends to continue to invest in Italian culture and develop its activities in the country.
>> Italian version of the press release
Press contact: Jean-Louis Erneux, jean-louis.erneux@vivendi.com, +33 1 71 71 15 84 ; Image Building, vivendi@imagebuilding.it, +39 02 89011300
About Vivendi
Since 2014, Vivendi has built a world-class content, media and communications group. The Group owns leading, strongly complementary assets in television and movies (Canal+ Group), communications (Havas Group), publishing (Editis), magazines (Prisma Media), video games (Gameloft), live entertainment and ticketing (Vivendi Village). It also owns a global digital content distribution platform (Dailymotion). Vivendi’s various businesses cohesively work together as an integrated industrial group to create greater value. Vivendi is committed to the environment and has set the goal of contributing to net zero carbon worldwide by adopting an approach in line with the Paris Agreements. In addition, the Group is helping to build more open, inclusive and responsible societies by supporting diverse and inventive creative works, promoting broader access to culture, education and its businesses, and by increasing awareness of 21st-century challenges and opportunities. www.vivendi.com.