The Lancia Café is likely to be just as busy as London’s Piccadilly Circus or New York’s Times Square this year. All the top names from the 66th Venice International Film Festival, part of Venice’s Biennial, will be passing through sooner or later. Given the success of its first two editions, the Lancia Café on the terrace of Lido di Venezia’s Hotel Excelsior is certain to be the most exclusive and attractive meeting point for the stars of this year’s Festival too, offering an ideal opportunity either for a quiet aperitif or for interviews with the world's media. This year, the larger, air conditioned rooms of the Lancia Café provide an ideal location for the media to meet new talents and established producers, and for directors and actors to give one-to-one interviews to the press.

Lancia is the main sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival for the fourth year running, and the Lancia Café is an effective symbol of this partnership. Lancia is also placing a fleet of 50 prestige cars, representing the ultimate in Italian elegance, at the disposal of the Festival organisation. Thirty of these are Delta Executives. The Delta Executive is Lancia’s flagship model, designed and made to satisfy the needs of the business community and the world of diplomacy and government. For the duration of the Festival this fleet of Lancias will be used to carry personalities and stars of the cinema around Lido and on their visits to the red carpet.

The Lancia Café will be hosting events and get-togethers throughout the Festival, planned by various organisers, including Lancia itself, but all equally fascinating and exciting. Though the programme has not yet been finalised, the dates of some events can already be announced. On Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd September the Lancia Café will be hosting a meeting between the Italian and international press and a delegation from Giuseppe Tornatore’s film “Baarìa – La porta del vento”. An exclusive party held in honour of the film Baarìa and its actors will be held at the Café the evening of 2nd September after the inaugural gala. Then, on Thursday 3rd, a press conference will be held to present a special edition of the Corriere della Sera Magazine dedicated to the world of the cinema. On Friday 4th at 17:30, Olivier François, Lancia’s CEO, will hold a press conference to present the Lancia Powerboat, the 13-metre luxury boat provided to carry cinema stars around the Venice lagoon. A cocktail party sponsored by Kinéo Diamanti and presented by singer and actress Arianna will be held in the Lancia Café at 19:00 on Sunday 6th September. The eagerly awaited party organised by the monthly magazine Ciak will take place the evening of 9th September, with the Les Etoiles party following the evening of Friday 11th.

Various delegations are due to make an appearance, including those from the film “Bad Lieutenant” directed by Werner Herzog with Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer and the stunning Eva Mendes; “Mr Nobody” with Tarantino’s latest inspiration, Diane Kruger; “Questione di punti di vista” with Sergio Castellitto and Jane Birkin; “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Ethan Hawke and Richard Gere; “Il Grande Sogno” by Michele Placido with Riccardo Scamarcio among others; and “The Men Who Stare at Goats”, a film with a star cast including George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

By sponsoring the 66th Venice International Film Festival, Lancia is confirming its choice of the cinema as the form of cultural expression best suited to identifying the values of the Lancia brand. As Olivier François, CEO of Lancia Automobiles explains, “Given our experience in recent years, Lancia is happy to continue its sponsorship of the cinema as an expression of enthusiasm, tradition and innovation, elegance and temperament. The synergy between us is perfect, and our sponsorship is meant to associate the Lancia brand even more closely with the art of the cinema. Cinema is part of our language not only at events like this, but in our advertising too. Lancia’s advertising campaigns over recent years, and the major effort we put into making the Lancia Delta an international cinema star with a key role in the film ‘Angels & Demons’ illustrate my point.”