From Temptation Island to the Venice 80 red carpet: Isabella, Manu and the specter of Paul Newman

If you have ever seen the photos and videos of the red carpets from the last few days of the Venice Film Festival, it is very likely that you have wondered: what are TizioCaio and TiziaCia doing there since neither TizioCaio nor TiziaCia are in any way related to cinema? Welcome to the age of influencersthose names followed by hundreds of thousands of followers that we find at the most prestigious film festivals, from Cannes to Venice, not because they can’t resist the temptation to watch Pablo Larraín’s latest film, but because are invited by brands who are linked to those festivals by a relationship according to which a certain number of seats or, simply, of seats on the red carpet are destined for their guests. Guests who, in exchange for the parade on the red carpet and, in some cases, a seat in the Sala Grande – the other great unspoken truth is that many guests of the brands only get the sop of the catwalk giving up, some less reluctantly than others, the projection -, they create sponsored content or other for the brand.

It is not something to agree or disagree with: the reality is thisand it is very unlikely that it will change in the future, as the windows of Venice, Cannes, Berlin and Toronto are particularly attractive to all those who, hungry for social recognitioncan’t wait to tell their followers they walked the same red carpet as Adam Driver. Together with professional influencers, however, we also find ordinary characters made known by television programs such as Temptation Island. The image of Isabella Recalcati and Manu Marascio, i.e. the girl who loves signatures and the tram driver who was scolded by his fiancée for not being ambitious enough, in Venice is part of a trend that has led in recent years dozens of girlfriends and boyfriends of Temptation Island on the red carpet, ready to pose for photographers like international and local stars.

One question, however, we should ask ourselves: what will remain of these fleeting passages of influencers, television protagonists and starlets on the Lido in fifty years? Will the photos of Isabella Recalcati and Manu Marascio ever survive the test of time like the wonderful black and white shot of Paul Newman in 1963, arrived in Venice aboard a beautiful Riva for the presentation of his film Hud the savage? We are quite convinced not, and perhaps this would be enough to forgive the brands that flock to Venice for invitations that would have made the Antonioni and Fellini turn up their noses, who went to the Mostra for merits a little heavier than participation in a comparison bonfire.