The Venice Film Festival is the premier and the oldest film festival in the world, was founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the “Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica”. And after that, festival is organized annually every year in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice, Italy. It is the most prestigious film festival and is a part of the Venice Biennale, a prominent biennial presentation of the contemporary art. The primary award in the film festivals are Leone d’Oro (Golden Lion), the Coppa Volpi (Volpi Cup), that too was awarded as the best actor and actress award.

The first “Esposizione d’Arte Cinematografica” came into life in 1932 as part of the 18th Venice Biennale and was presided by the auspices of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, President of the Biennale, the sculptor Antonio Maraini, General Secretary, and Luciano De Feo, General Secretary of the International Institute for Educational Cinema, located in Rome.

The 1932 Festival was occurred on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido, though at that time it was not a competitive event. It included some leading movies that became classics in the film history. The shown movies were: It happened one night, Grand Hotel, The Champ, Frankenstein, Zemlja, Gli uomini che mascalzoni and Camerini. The directors participated in the show were primary names like Raoul Walsh, Ernst Lubitsch, Nikolaj Ekk, Howard Hawks, George Fitzmaurice, Maurice Tourner, and Anatol Litvak.

The top stars who attended the first Venice Film Festival were Greta Garbo to Clark Gable, Fredric March to Wallace Beery, Norma Shearer to James Cagney, Ronald Colman to Loretta Young, John Barrymore to Joan Crawford, and Vittorio De Sica and about 25 thousand cheering spectators.

The first movie that was shown at the show was Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, screened at 9.15 p.m. on 6 August 1932. The second Festival was held from 1 to 20 August 1934 and for the first time there was a competition among participating movies. About 19 countries and 300 accredited journalists took part in the festival. The “Coppa Mussolini” was declared the best foreign film and best Italian film, yet there was no such jury there.

By 1935, the Festival became a yearly event under the supervision of Ottavio Croze and simultaneously there was an increase in number of participant countries and movies. The actor’s award was renamed as “Coppa Volpi”. In 1936, an international jury was created for the first time and in 1937 the new Palazzo del Cinema was inaugurated. It was designed by the architect Luigi Quagliata. Hence after, except for years 1940 to 1948, the festival is hosted and the number of participating countries too has increased.

The first evidences of human habitat on the Venice Lagoon islands date back to the 5th and 6th centuries, when the inhabitants from the mainland came to settle at semi-swamp area in order to save them from the barbaric invasions which led to the fall of Roman Empire. Therefore masses coming from the mainland Venice rested in the lagoon, and fought as hard as possible for their survival and grouped the pieces of land surrounded by water in a manner to show real feel and look of a real town and that of its kind in entire world. The inhabitants there constructed rafts of various sizes as supported by strong wooden poles which were fixed below. The rafts were connected to each other with wooden walkways and there houses, buildings and other structures were constructed over them.

In 1797, the Napoleone Bonaparte won over the Venice, and sacked the entire area as he did with the rest of the country. A short while the Emperor handed over the city to Austria, a ruler that was never liked by the Venetians. In 1848, the Austrians were led out of the city by a group by Daniele Manin, and the second Republic of Venice was then declared. This new republic did not survived for long and Venice was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1866.

Arts and culture remains in Venice in versatility due to its vivid and vast culture. Venice was the home of Vivaldi and the primary center of world music during the 16th century. Music is an integral part to the Venetian culture. The PalaFenice there carries performances during the opera season, yet sometimes it does get overshadowed by Verona. The Frari Church shows recitals from May thru October, except in August. There exists a wonderful spot for viewing and listening to Venice’s artistic talents is in the Scuola di San Rocca.

Theatre is too much famous in Venice as the Venetian commedia dell`Arte, performed his arts at the Teatro Goldoni is a must see spot to enjoy and be recreated with Venetian comedy. To a different taste in theaters another popular spot there is Teatro a l`Avogaria that is providing experimental theatre since 1969.

Classical ballet too can be survived at the PalaFenice, Tronchetto Island. Other than this, there is no other major spot for dance performances to be found there is Venice. If you are fond of film venues, the Accademia, Calle Gambera, Dorsodura provides many American and European films, and the Giorgione Movie D`Essai has about 300 seats and shows films on a two screen miniplex in English on Thursdays. The Biennale and the Venice Film Festival is the premier cultural event of Venice. It was originally founded in 1932 by Mussolini and is prized as the second most important film festival in the world.