On 30 August 2000, the Venice International Film Festival opened with film stars gathering in the lagoon city for the first night of its 57th edition.
The archive sequence brings together Clint Eastwood, Sharon Stone and Chiara Caselli, alongside James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland. Their arrivals capture the mix of established screen figures assembled in Venice at the turn of the millennium.
Jennifer Jason Leigh also appears in the photographs, while festival director Alberto Barbera is pictured during the opening. The images move between individual portraits and group arrivals, preserving the ceremony and anticipation around the festival's first evening.
Seen together, the eight photographs return to a precise date and place: Venice, Italy, on 30 August 2000, before the programme unfolded and the festival moved into its daily rhythm of premieres and appearances.
