CARTIER & VENICE

Cartier is supporting a range of initiatives to help preserve the living heritage of the city of Venice and contribute to the continuous development of its cultural life, underscoring its partnership with the Venice International Film Festival.

In a new collaboration with the renowned opera house Teatro la Fenice, a unique performance of a specially created spectacle will mark a celebration of the 80th edition of the festival in one of Venice’s most emblematic locations. Ciao Casanova, devised by musician and artistic director Solrey, the performance explores in music, film and theatrical imagery the myth of Venice’s notorious seducer, and features a new composition by Academy Award[1]winning composer Alexandre Desplat, who has collaborated on the project. The performance will be open to all and free of charge. This special performance also initiates Maison Cartier’s support for the work of Fondazione Teatro la Fenice, and its upcoming season of opera, ballet and concerts.

Meanwhile, the Maison continues to support the restoration and renovation of two iconic Venice venues, the Teatro Verde and Conservatorio Di Musica Benedetto Marcello. Built between 1953 and 1954 by Luigi Vietti, Teatro Verde is a stunning amphitheatre located on the island of San Giorgio. The theatre has not been in constant use, but now through the Maison’s support, in partnership with The Fondazione Giorgio Cini, renovations are bringing this unique venue closer to its original vision.

The Maison is also supporting the Conservatorio Di Musica Benedetto Marcello, in the magnificent setting of the early 17th Century Palazzo Pisani a Santo Stefano, to renovate one of its rehearsal rooms, including dramatically improving its acoustics and lighting, installing new fabric lining provided by Venetian artisans, and showcasing its stunning frescoed ceiling.

The Maison also collaborates with Orsoni, the last remaining furnace allowed to operate with fire in Venice, by supporting the creation of La Scola, a centre of excellence and training that continues the development of the ancient craft of Venetian smalti and 24 K gold leaf mosaics production. La Scola enables Orsoni Venezia 1888, part of TREND Group, a global manufacturer of glass mosaics and engineered stone surfaces based in Italy, to support the Venetian artisan tradition through activities including mosaic workshops, thematic courses and artist residences.

The Maison is main sponsor of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, having first partnered with La Biennale di Venezia in 2021 to jointly support contemporary filmmaking and to celebrate creativity and talent.

As part of this collaboration, Venice International Film Festival and Cartier pay tribute to outstanding filmmakers with the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award, dedicated to a personality that has made an original contribution to the contemporary film industry.

For the 80th Venice International Film Festival, Cartier continues to enrich its collaboration with a special programme that was initiated in 2022 and will continue to evolve over future editions.

Following a successful season of Composing for Cinema masterclasses last year, the Maison will now widen the scope of the format, co-hosting masterclasses with La Biennale di Venezia that celebrate The Art and Craft of Cinema, inviting world-leading talents across various disciplines of filmmaking. The masterclasses, held at Palazzo del Casino on Venice Lido, will this year feature two world-leading partnerships, in film music and design.

The first masterclass will explore the Academy Award winning musical partnership of director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz, inviting us behind the scenes of the high-fidelity collaboration between Chazelle, this year’s president of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, and Hurwitz, on films such as Whiplash, First Man, Babylon and La La Land, which had its world premiere at the 2016 edition of the festival.

The second masterclass will feature multiple winners of the Academy Award for Art Direction, set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo and production designer Dante Ferretti, celebrated for films including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Hugo and The Aviator.

Cyrille Vigneron, President and CEO of Cartier said: “The Maison’s support and commitment to Venice goes beyond the movie festival. We also seek to contribute to its cultural life, inviting world-leading artists who interpret a director’s vision behind the scenes to share their creative paths with audiences. And through a new original performance that celebrates composers and interpreters of film music, we continue to celebrate original creation, original angles and points of view on eternal human themes and myths.”