On Friday night in Venice, the grande dame hotels lining the Grand Canal were abuzz with parties as the film world headed back from premieres on the Lido and were ready to celebrate their films over a negroni or two. And few events were quite as starry as the dinner held at the Gritti Palace by Cartier and the cult film magazine A Rabbit’s Foot, which saw the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Charles Finch, welcome guests for a dinner of vegetable risotto and grilled fish. Those arriving to the hotel jetty for the evening included Jacob Elordi, in town to promote his starring role in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein; Sofia Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola; Bugonia’s Alicia Silverstone; and the president of this year’s Venice Film Festival jury, Alexander Payne.
Naturally, a series of speeches soon followed, all honoring the “craft of cinema.” First, Finch raised a glass to Cartier’s longstanding commitment to supporting filmmakers (this is the fourth year that the French jewelry house has served as the main sponsor and official partner of the Venice Film Festival). Then, Cartier’s SVP chief marketing officer Arnaud Carrez offered his thanks to Finch for partnering on the event, as well as to the illustrious roll-call of artists seated around the room.
Finally, it was time to head to the Gritti rooftop, which had been transformed for the evening into Venice’s most glittering open-air nightclub for the after-party, with actors Rashida Jones, Gemma Chan, and George Mackay all arriving to sip Champagne and take in the sweeping views over to the dramatically lit Santa Maria della Salute church and the lagoon beyond. Even as those with premieres and press junkets the next day began to peel off, the party continued late into the night as guests blew off steam after a busy first few days at the festival—and left the party chattering about the rest of the films to come over the next week.