Black in Venice

Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Ruben Peralta Rigaud went to the 79th annual Venice Film Festival to gather information for the Golden Globes website and for his own Spanish-language film publication, Cocalecas. What he did not expect, however, was to have his Blackness challenged in a space such as Venice.

“I didn’t see any black press beside us, the people from HFPA: me, K.J. Matthews and Earl Gibson,” Rigaud said. “I honestly didn’t see anyone that looks like me.”

On the ground, Rigaud said he noticed the lack of Blackness, but didn’t give it much thought because he was so busy running around grabbing tickets, coordinating schedules and getting an idea as to the layout of the festival.

Upon comparing notes with fellow press association members and friends, K.J. Matthews and Earl Gibson, Rigaud realized that he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the lack of Black folks at the festival. K.J. reflected on this in an article she’d written for HEPA that pointed out that she was one of the only Black women journalists at the festival. “To me, that’s insane,” Riguad said.

Later on, Rigaud’s observation presented as a real-life problem in an unexpected place — on public transportation. He recalled the first time, walking onto the bus and sitting in a seat in front of a woman who was already seated. Seconds later, Rigaud says that the woman got up and rushed to another part of the bus. “And she just stood up and moved to another seat when I sat in front of her.”

The woman sat by the door, which led Rigaud to dismiss thoughts of ill will. He considered that the woman moved to be closer to the door for her stop.

Rigaud says she moved seconds after he sat down, so he thought nothing of it until it happened again and continued throughout the week. When he sat down on these public buses used to get around the city, white women would get up and move to another seat on the bus.

At first, Rigaud didn’t jump to racism. He mentally ran through a number of possible reasons why these people were behaving this way in what was supposed to be an enlightened and progressive city. He even considered body odor as a possible explanation.

“Honestly, the first time that happened I smell myself,” Rigaud said, explaining that he did a lot of walking to and from festival venues and theaters in the heat. Venice is a new environment. Heat, stress and anxiety equal sweat. But, this critic was not new to such conditions, which he had grown accustomed to when working his day job as an emergency room physician in Miami.

Again, Rigaud examined the demographics of the festival and the city. It was obvious that the lack of diversity was the culprit behind the odd behavior that he had experienced.

He also made another important observation: “I didn’t see any Latino press. There was press from Spain but not from this side of the world. I didn’t see any Mexican [journalists]. I follow most of the press that writes about movies. No one from Latin America or Argentina or Mexico did have any film critics in Venice. It’s only me.”

The odd behavior continued. White people moved away when Rigaud sat down or stood nearby, even in the press rooms, which were supposed to be safe spaces for all journalists.

Frustrated, Riguad confided in his fellow press pool members. “I commented on this to a friend; she’s actually Italian,” he said. “She told me, ‘I believe you, Ruben, because this is the northern part. They are racist in northern Italy. They are like that.’ She was the one who made me search about the history of the festival.”

What he found was a revelation and concerning news as an AfroLatino critic at the fest. Riguad learned about the associations between the Venice Film Fest and Hitler’s Nazi regime. In those early years of the festival, there was even a “Mussolini Award” film category. This perspective helped to explain things but it did not make Rigaud feel any better, especially while going about his work, for example, when he was the only Black person who stood up to ask a question of the filmmaker in a televised press conference.

Rigaud’s experience as a Black film critic in Venice is something that others should note and reflect upon. The Venice festival’s counterparts, including Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival all have programs in place to promote diversity in its press pool. They also have a much more diverse slate of films offered. The two — diverse press and diverse film offerings — are connected.

Rigaud has covered Sundance, The Toronto International Film Festival and The Cannes Film Festival. He says that as an AfroLatino man, none of the festivals were as odd and uncomfortable as Venice.

He recalled a moment with Black tourists after he had been in the city for a few days. Three Black tourists saw Ruben and they approached him. Riguad said that they were surprised and seemed relieved to see someone who resembled them. “They fist-bumped me like it was nothing,” Riguad said, explaining that he and the men saw one another several times after that over the course of the festival. They acknowledged one another with the international Black man, “I see you” signal — the nod.

And, although he did not share his experience beyond his conversation with me for this article, Riguad urges readers to seek out the work of his colleagues. The experience made him look more closely at not only the press represented at the festival, but also the films and filmmakers themselves. He noted that the only “Black” film featured was Saint-Omer by Alice Diop, which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.

“Where I come from, I don’t pay attention to those details,” Rigaud said. He went on to explain that Blackness in the Dominican Republic is a different experience, because there are Black people and other ethnicities represented in the media everywhere. When he moved to the US, he began to see how Blackness was not represented the same as his home country. That’s how he learned the importance of representation.

The lack of Black and Latinos in Venice left this critic really wondering why this is still a problem in 2022. He said that he couldn’t help thinking, “So it’s like, are our people not allowed to come here?”

The Venice Film Festival has been scrutinized before for its lack of diversity. Although it did put gender pledge in place during the 2020 festival, it continuously fails to address what is essentially anti-blackness. The press pool and film lineup are not the only spaces affected. A 2020 Variety investigation found that the last Black juror (the people who determine the prize winners for film festivals) was Spike Lee, which was back in 2004.

Without diverse press and a diverse jury pool, the Venice film festival will continue to shut out minority creators. This is because the press and jury are spaces where people like Rigaud have the power to call for more representation of people that look like them. Until it addresses the lack of diversity, the Venice Film Festival will continue to be an exclusive celebration of Eurocentric, white, cinematic achievement.

The next Venice International Film Festival is set for August 30, 2023.

Jonita Davis (jonitadavis.com) is a film critic, writer, and pop culture junkie behind the online publication The Black C.A.P.E. Magazine (theblackcape.com, @theblackcapemag). She is also a freelance writer, a published author, an English professor, and a podcaster. She has a master’s degree in English (Literary Criticism Concentration) from Purdue University and teaches writing at Waubonsee Community College. Her previous works include Michigan City’s Marinas (History Press 2009), Michigan City’s Washington Park (History Press 2011), Questioning Cultural Appropriation (Enslow Publishing 2019), and We Gon Be Black Today (Chicago Review Press, 2023).

This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 9:00 AM.