Reporters cry foul with little access to stars at Venice festival

Hollywood’s biggest stars are at the Venice Film Festival this year, but some international cinema journalists say they are being cut out of interviews, in a threat to their profession.Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Michael Keaton and Jude Law have already arrived in Venice for the prestigious festival running through September 7, with Brad Pitt and George Clooney expected to hit the Lido today.But the opportunities to interview these big names are few and far between, claim about 100 journalists who have signed an open letter of protest."The festival is bringing names to achieve prestige and media exposure but then seem to develop amnesia when it comes to the actual journalists,” wrote the letter, posted this week on the private Facebook group International Film Festivals Journalists.So-called press "junkets” — in which directors and their casts accord short, filmed interviews, one after the other, to journalists in advance of their films — have almost disappeared this year except for the biggest media outlets.Instead, those who are left out must rely on press conferences organised by the festival, or stars’ appearances on the red carpet.A French press officer told AFP that distributors could no longer afford the high cost of interview slots charged by studios."Cinema journalism is in danger of extinction” wrote the letter, which added that interviews with big stars help freelance journalists continue working, which allows them to cover lesser-known films and emerging talent.The freelance journalists say they have seen the trend growing at other film festivals including at Cannes and Berlin, but "the scope of (stars’) unavailability during this upcoming festival is unprecedented.”On the festival’s first day Wednesday, a German freelancer confronted the festival’s director, Alberto Barbera at a press conference, asking him to intercede."We are coming here to work and the interaction this year is not possible because we are not given any interviews,” she said."No junkets are happening.”Barbera said he was not aware of the issue, but noted that the festival does not organise such interviews and had little power to influence them, calling them "marketing choices that must be respected.”The organiser of the international journalists group, Italian freelancer Marco Consoli, said there had been no official reaction to the letter.