Venezia Cult: Venice’s New Pop‑Culture Hub at the Film Festival

From August 27 to September 6, 2025, the Lido of Venice will host Venezia Cult, a vibrant pop-culture hub set up alongside the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

📍 What It Is & Where It Happens

Created by the under‑30 creative studio Aka Lab, founded by Francesco Marchetti and Andrea Vailati, Venezia Cult transforms the BlueMoon pavilion—a unique structure perched between the dome and the beach—into a dynamic space blending cinema, digital art, music, publishing, and live performances. Starting at 5 PM each day, it immerses visitors, accredited guests, and especially Gen Z audiences in a festival experience beyond the red carpet

🎨 Programming Highlights: Talks, Podcasts & Fest of Creators

Venezia Cult hosts live podcasts, artist talks, and performances featuring authors, creators, and influencers. Returning to Venice after over two decades is an exhibition area dedicated to publishers, showcasing graphic novels, essays, and books about pop culture curated by Carlo Amatetti of Sagoma Editore.

One standout feature is Fest of Creators—a digital format where leading film content creators share their own unique perspectives on the festival. Last year, the event garnered 14 million views and 400,000 interactions in just ten days.

🎤 Talk, podcast e creator digitali

Venezia Cult ospiterà talk, interviste e podcast in diretta con autori, artisti e creator italiani. Torna il format di successo Fest of Creators, che l’anno passato ha totalizzato circa 14 milioni di visualizzazioni e oltre 400.000 interazioni in poco più di 10 giorni. I creator racconteranno la Mostra con linguaggi innovativi, dai video social alle dirette più narrative.

🤝 Partner culturali

Venezia Cult is built on a broad network of partners:

• Venezia Spiagge S.p.A., a municipal company owned by the City of Venice;

• COMICON, a major European pop-culture and graphic novel festival with over 220,000 tickets sold in 2025;

• ArteSettima, media partner with over 300,000 cinema fans and a podcast reaching 45 million views;

• Academic and cultural backing from Ca’ Foscari University, Cinit – Cineforum Italia, Quarta Parete, and UNIMED.

Importantly, Art & Food’s Acquasalsa restaurant, led by Christian Garbisa, supports Venezuela Cult as an official sponsor, contributing to logistics and on-site hospitality at the event hub

Venezia Cult offers the Venice Film Festival a fresh, inclusive edge—an intergenerational, participatory cultural space designed to bridge cinema, digital storytelling, live art and editorial discovery. Powered by partnerships with COMICON, ArteSettima and the academic world—and with the active support of Acquasalsa—this initiative redefines how visitors experience cinema, creativity, and community at the Venice Lido.