{"id":612640,"date":"2026-09-02T21:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612640\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:56:12","slug":"venice-film-festival-fans-camp-out-for-24-hours-to-see-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612640\/","title":{"rendered":"Venice Film Festival Fans Camp Out for 24 Hours to See Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt\u2019s 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and 19-year-old Delsina Desanctes is standing outside the Palazzo de Cinema \u2014 the iconic venue where the Venice Film Festival<\/a> takes place \u2014 surrounded by umbrellas, suitcases, sleeping bags and even a tent.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m hoping to see Sydney Sweeney, Kendall Jenner and Jonathan Bailey,\u201d says Desanctes, who traveled to Lido from Rome. (None of them are at the fest for movies; they\u2019re attending as brand ambassadors for Armani.)<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a full 24 hours before anyone famous will walk the red carpet, but that hasn\u2019t stopped Venice superfans from camping out a day early. Every film festival has its die-hards who gather hours in advance to catch a glimpse at their favorite celebrities and share the bragging rights on Instagram and TikTok. But at Venice, it\u2019s an all-night affair. Along with the umbrellas to block the sun, people are equipped with mosquito repellant, water bottles, portable phone chargers and tripods. If you squint, it almost looks like camp grounds at Burning Man or Coachella (without the dust).<\/p>\n

\n\tDesanctes isn\u2019t fazed by the brutal heat or hours of waiting around. This is her seventh year in the thick of the action, and she\u2019s gotten good at passing the time. In fact, she\u2019s not even all that interested in the stars. She\u2019s saving a spot for her celebrity-obsessed best friend, who is back at their hotel taking a disco nap before the fun begins.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDelsina Desanctes is saving a spot for her celebrity-obsessed best friend<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI smoke. I love talking to people, so the time passes,\u201d Desanctes says. \u201cI didn\u2019t eat or drink all day today, so tomorrow I\u2019m going to reset. It\u2019s crazy, but it\u2019s the only time of year I\u2019m going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMichele, a 29-year-old Italian who has attended the festival for the past decade, took off work so he could get to the Palazzo by 6 p.m. on Tuesday. It\u2019s a lot of effort, sure, but he learned the hard way that showing up any later meant he\u2019d get a lame placement on the carpet. If you don\u2019t have a decent view of the action, you certainly won\u2019t be able to score any autographs or selfies.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast year, I arrived at 9 p.m. the day before, and it was too late. I was on the last part of the red carpet,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I got here tomorrow, I\u2019d be in the third or fourth row.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a problem, he says, because the crowd tends to erupt into a frenzy when A-listers finally descend on the red carpet. \u201cEveryone, at least the first time they\u2019re here, makes some mistakes. You push people a little. I\u2019ve done it as well. It\u2019s like a battle royale,\u201d says Michele. \u201cI\u2019m not proud of it, but this year I\u2019m trying to change and redeem myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGeorge Clooney, who is being honored with a life achievement award, as well as the cast of Danny Boyle\u2019s Rupert Murdoch drama \u201cInk,\u201d including Jack O\u2019Connell, Claire Foy and Guy Pearce, are among the bold-face names who will attend the opening night festivities. Michele wants to meet Boyle, his favorite director, but he\u2019s prepared to be disappointed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a roll of the dice,\u201d Michele says. \u201cSome of them are very kind. It\u2019s not their fault if they don\u2019t take an autograph or selfie with every person on the red carpet. They have a schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVenice\u2019s artistic director Alberto Barbera, who happened to be walking by the Palazzo de Cinema on Tuesday night as people were already staking out the grounds, admitted he doesn\u2019t know what to make of the unusual scene.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t believe they\u2019re so crazy to stay for two days,\u201d Barbera says. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s weird. But at the same time, they show there\u2019s a real passion. The fact that they put themselves in such a situation, not caring about the fatigue, not caring if they eat, it\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLocal police officers, meanwhile, say they can\u2019t comprehend the appeal of sleeping on the ground in the name of capturing a few photos and videos. And it\u2019s apparently illegal in Venice for tourists who sit, lay down or camp in public areas, with fines ranging from \u20ac200 to \u20ac350, according to two officials who declined to be named. But they aren\u2019t trying to disrupt the fun.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are not fining them. If it were a normal day, we would take them away from there and give them a warning that they must stay out of the city center for two days,\u201d says one police officer. \u201cAs a Venetian, I don\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCamping out is bonding for mother and daughter Samantha Sandri and Bianca Baccolini<\/p>\n

\n\tThe all-nighter has become an annual event for Bianca Baccolini, 20, and her mom, Samantha Sandri, of Bologna. They returned to the sidewalk, having captured cherished videos in years prior of Brad Pitt, Clooney and Lady Gaga. This time around, they were joined by six friends \u2014 another parent and kids ranging from 14 to 21 years old \u2014 whom they met at the 2025 festival.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful experience,\u201d says Baccolini, who hopes to snag pictures of Clooney (again), Orlando Bloom and Robert Pattinson. Her mom describes the adventure as \u201cmagic.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe filmmakers and actors come to see you, and they\u2019re friendly,\u201d Sandri says. \u201cAnd my daughter and I get to spend time together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and 19-year-old Delsina Desanctes is standing outside the Palazzo de Cinema \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60,802],"class_list":["post-612640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-venice-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}