With masks and tests, stars return to Venice for 'sold out' film fest

VENICE: The Venice film festival opens on Wednesday with a rich line-up and the return of Hollywood stars who had largely deserted it last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as cinema looks forward to shaking off the crisis triggered by the health emergency.

Organisers hope a strict coronavirus protocol will help keep the 11-day movie marathon trouble free. Theatres are operating at half capacity and a wall is blocking the view to the red carpet to stop crowds from gathering outside the main venue, Palazzo del Cinema, to get an autograph. Face masks and a health passport - or a negative COVID test - are required to attend screenings. "Everybody everywhere is eager to come back, to reopen, to restart, to release the films that stayed on the shelf for a year and a half or maybe two years," festival director Alberto Barbera told Reuters ahead of the opening ceremony.