The Venice Film Festival’s long and highly publicized wait for an updated venue will be over in 2010, Italy’s Ministry of Culture announced Wednesday.
Festival organizers have been reiterating the idea that the event could become less important over time because of it’s aging main venue – the Palazzo del Cinema – and pushed for its renovation.
“Without better facilities, the Venice Film Festival will begin to fade away,” artistic director Marco Muller said during September’s 63rd edition of the festival.
At the time, Muller and Venice Biennale President Davide Croff revealed plans for a $133 million facelift, saying that the government had agreed to match money raised by the local government and from private sources.
The initial plan involved allowing the facility to be used during its stages of development and the timetable for completion was about three years. The actual plan that was recently laid out is aiming a bit lower. It gives a four-year timetable and will cost about $93 million which will be paid by government and private sources. It is not yet certain if the structure will be used during its construction. The organizers of the film festival organizers said they were pleased with the development.
“This is a historic victory,” Croff said in a statement. “It is something that was of great need and which we have been working on for a long time.”
The new facility will be built by the architectural firm 5 + 1 & Rudi Ricciotti. Ground will be broken on the project early next year.