Venice Carnival 2003
For the first time since the times of Maurizio Scaparro in the 1980s, the Venice Carnival has an artistic director, Felice Laudadio, former director of the Venice Film Festival and president of Cinecitta’ Holding, organizer of the TaorminaFilmFest and EuropaCinema in Viareggio.
Last September Laudadio, appointed last June by Promove president Giorgio Giorgi, introduced the first version of the 2003 Carnival programme, which will have a Fellini theme. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the director’s death. The extraordinary creativity and geniality of the masks in Federico Fellini’s movies will lend the leading theme to this year’s event, whose title is “Felliniana.Wearing a mask to uncover”.
The programme has been positively welcomed by Promove and the Municipality of Venice but had to undergo several cuts due to lack of financial support caused by the difficult global economic situation. Thanks to the Municipality of Venice, the Veneto Region, the Province of Venice, the Chamber of Commerce, APT, the associations representing the economic sectors of the city (Ava, Aval, Aepe, Ascom, Fiavet, Confesercenti) and the Carnival coordinator Ugo Samueli, it was possible to define a programme respectful of the chosen theme and containing several quality cultural and entertainment events for the general audience.
Among the scheduled events (the complete schedule is 50-page long) is the Vinicio Capossela concert, to be held in San Marco square on February 22, a Marco Paolini recital on February 26, a performance by comedian Sabina Guzzanti on February 27 and a Paolo Rossi monologue on Sunday, March 2, in the evening.
The following organizations will be active throughout Carnival time with music and theatre performances: Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali (Donato and Paola Sartori), which will also take care of the city’s decorations, FNV (Laura Scarpa and Lorenzo Cinotti), the Rummellai, Tecnopolis Media Culture (Calogero Lo Giudice). The traditional Marie parade (coreographed by Bruno Tosi) and the Tribunal de l’Inquisition (Massimo Andreoli) will open the Venice Carnival on February 22.
Venetian fencing champion Frida Scarpa will perform in the Flight of the Angel on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 12 noon in San Marco Square. In the evening of March 4 (Mardi Gras) several music bands and theatre companies, including the Patch Adams and the Clown-Doctors, will open a big kermesse in San Marco Square.
One of the main Carnival events, a sort of red twine that will join the Kids Carnival in San Polo and the Pediatric Wards of the Venice hospitals, will be offered by a group of clown-doctors specialized in “smile-therapy” devised by renowned clown-doctor Patch Adams. Adams will be in Venice with another American clown-doctor, Susan Parenti to participate to the conference on “New Hysteria” organized by Vittorio Andreoli. Other participants include Roberto Bernabei, Roberto Gorla, Marcello Veneziani, Donato Sartori, Marcello Zancan, Serena Sartori, Ursula Bachler.
For Felliniana – Promovenezia Operative Center at Fondazione Levi
