THE VENICE SYNDROME
A documentary by Andreas Pichler
Opens Friday, July 26
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto
Cinema du Parc in Montreal
“I see Venice as a symbol of current changes in our cities, where public space is transformed into a commodity which a select few can use for their private deals, while all losses are left to the general public. The ultimate scenario is an empty, crumbling city; nothing more than a stage set, a kind of Disneyland.”
-Andreas Pichler, director, The Venice Syndrome
The Venice Syndrome is a portrait of a magnificent city in the process of destroying itself.
Venice lives under the enormous pressure of mass tourism – and lives from it. The city has ceased to exist as an urban structure, has been deserted by its inhabitants and is descending into physical, social and moral decay.
Venice is pure romance; that which all Europeans yearn for, the dream of all Americans, the wish of all Japanese. But the world’s most beautiful city turns into a ghost town at night. Entire quarters, long since abandoned by their inhabitants, stand empty, their structures merely providing a myth to serve business interests.
20 years ago, 125,000 people still lived in Venice, but today less than half remain, and the population dwindles each year by a few thousand more.
According to one study, there will be no more Venetians by the year 2030.
Twenty million foreigners visited Venice last year. That’s an average of 60,000 a day. By comparison, there are only 58,000 inhabitants, the same population during the Great Plague of 1438. And next year it will be fewer still, for the city is becoming uninhabitable. Venice’s own urban life has almost collapsed; it scarcely still exists.
The Venice Syndrome is a portrait of what remains of Venetian life: a subculture of tourist service industries; a port for monstrous cruisers; Venetians who are moving to the mainland as there are no longer affordable apartments to be found; an aged noblewoman who treats the municipal council with scorn; a realtor who is considering abandoning the sinking ship.
The Venice Syndrome is a requiem for a still grand city. An illustration of how common property becomes the prey of the few and an elegy to the last Venetians, their humour and their hearts.
Click on images to enlarge:
THE VENICE SYNDROME – TRAILER from filmtank on Vimeo.