Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Hunting The Leone d'Oro


Venice
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
Yesterday afternoon, Shaun and I headed to Venice. I'd been doing some research online, and I was hoping we could get into a screening at the Venice Film Festival, which is going on until Saturday. It's the oldest film festival in the world, and is being attended this year by some really famous people like Brad Pitt and Anne Hathaway.


Shaun
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
The directions I found online weren't very specific, so after walking around for a while, we asked directions and found out we had to take the water taxi to Lido, a whole other island. Neither of us had taken the water taxi before, but it was pretty cool.


Water Taxi
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
This was taken on the water taxi. I was just going to take a candid shot of Shaun, but by chance, caught the couple in the background kissing. I thought it was really sweet, and just affirms what a romantic city Venice is.


Venice Film Festival
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
After more walking, we finally found the main venue. There were tons of people and photographers gathered, so we figured there must be something big going on. It was the debut of an Italian film called Birdwatchers - La terra degli uomini rossi (The land of the red men). We saw the entire cast come up the red carpet. All the Italians were going crazy, but Shaun and I didn't really know who these people were.


Natalie?
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
A couple minutes later, everyone started really freaking out, but we couldn't see too much. All the photographers were screaming "Natalie!" Then we saw her...


Natalie!
Originally uploaded by currtdawg
That's right. It was Natalie Portman, there for the screening of her short film Eve. She was making her way down the line, signing autographs. Unfortunately, she got about five feet from us before turning to walk inside. She was absolutely gorgeous, and we were happy to get to see someone famous so close.
After that, the crowd broke up, so Shaun and I decided to head back. This time, we took the water taxi all the way to the train station. Venice in the evening is truly breathtaking. I think I might start taking more random trips there.

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