Isola Edipo is a festival of cinema, arts, and current affairs that animates the pulsating heart of the Venice lagoon every year during the Venice Film Festival.
It’s a place where third sector organizations, public institutions, and entrepreneurship come into relation, sharing the same ethical principles, and where partnerships form to expand the social impact of each entity. A showcase that blends acultural offering, free and accessible to all – screenings, talks, masterclasses, insights, concerts, and much more – with an ethically sourced culinary experience, with the possibility of hosting events that support this network.
Isola Edipo is promoted by Edipo Re Impresa Sociale, born from the collaboration of three individuals from different sectors: Sibylle Righetti, a documentary filmmaker and social cooperation activist; Enrico Vianello, engaged in the food and wine industry for twenty years; and Silvia Jop, author and curator. A synergy of complementary skills, united around the shared dream of transforming the Venice lagoon into an international model of achievable development, where art and tourism can unite in a mutually supportive relationship fueled by values of environmental sustainability and social inclusion.
PLACES AND ACTIVITIES
Isola Edipo was born as a meeting place between different realities united by the same ideals and ethical principles. Based on this assumption, Isola Edipo has become over the years a network concept that has developed in different places and animated by different activities carried out thanks to the activation of continuous new partnerships.
The Boat
Edipo Re, the historic sailboat that hosted Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas, now sails through the heart of the Venice Lagoon, generating a new form of ethically driven, high-quality sustainable tourism, accompanied by a constellation of cultural and artistic activities characterized by a strong social impact. During the film festival, the boat is moored at Riva Corinto and becomes the backdrop for a series of cultural events and meetings related to the world of cinema and the arts, including the Vela d’Artista project. In the past, Edipo Re has hosted events by Hollywood Reporter Italia, Fondation Cartier, and much more.
Riva Corinto
The shore of Lido, overlooking the lagoon and the city, provides a different perspective during the days of the Film Festival. It’s a place that brings together a series of spaces dedicated to events, discussions, and meetings, complemented by a food offering made with local ingredients.
Sala Laguna
A new screening venue at the heart of the Venice Film Festival, dedicated to exploring the relationship between cinema and the arts, promoted by Isola Edipo in collaboration with the Venice Days. A hall that annually hosts casts and film production houses from around the world.
Other locations between Venice and the lagoon
Within Isola Edipo’s program, new windows of dialogue and exploration are continuously introduced: talks, meetings, and screenings that animate various locations and collaborations in Venice (and beyond).
Partners and Promoters
Throughout its various editions, Isola Edipo has cultivated cultural partnerships with organizations such as Fondation Cartier, Galeries Lafayette, The Fame League, Archivio Isgrò, Collezione Maramotti, Giffoni Hub, and many others.
It has organized events and happenings with companies like Rai Cinema, MUBI, Indigo, Match Factory, Kleio Films, MAD Solution, I Wonder, Pluto Film, Sea Shepherd, Stemal Entertainment. Isola Edipo has hosted the casts of films competing and non-competing in the Venice Days, featuring internationally renowned figures such as Steve Buscemi, Céline Sciamma, Abel Ferrara, Nanni Moretti, Stefania Sandrelli, and Paolo Rossi. Activities promoted by Isola Edipo have been featured in newspapers such as La Repubblica, Il Manifesto, Corriere della Sera, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa, Vanity Fair, as well as on Rai 3, Fred Fm, and Radio Rai 3.
Isola Edipo operates according to these guiding principles related to sustainability, inclusion, social responsibility, and community welfare
Environmental Sustainability
All structures and furnishings at Isola Edipo are recycled and reused. The materials used within the areas are eco-friendly (mostly composed of eco-corn). All informational materials produced regarding activities in the area are digital. The food and beverage products are all ethically sourced and mostly come from the surrounding area, revitalizing local economies. Many participating companies have social and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) balance sheets.
Social Inclusion
: Every edition of Isola Edipo involves the employment of disabled individuals who develop and enhance their skills over the years. This process is realized through collaboration with a network of social entities (primarily the Parish of S. Antonio del Lido), which also organizes cultural activities integrated into the general program. All activities taking place within the areas of Isola Edipo are designed to welcome, along with the film festival audience and its professionals, the local population, creating a meeting space capable of meeting specific needs without becoming exclusionary to those who are not actively participating. Thanks to collaboration with the University of Ca’ Foscari, many students have the opportunity to intern at Isola Edipo.
Community Welfare
By establishing governance services with local entrepreneurial and municipal entities to provide services and facilities, Isola Edipo transforms a location like the shore, devoid of any services, into a vibrant area offering daily hospitality and well-being to the flow of visitors during the film festival and residential stays. It offers free cultural products, creating an inclusive area where citizens and residents can have a healthy and mixed relationship with international artists from the film festival. This initiative creates a true model of community welfare redevelopment applied to cultural tourism, which encourages university tourism and free workshops on social inclusion. Many of Isola Edipo’s partner entities are part of a network contract, Res-Int, aimed at:
Product and process innovation
Corporate social responsibility
Community welfare
Social Responsibility
Edipo Re participates in two network contracts with the business and entrepreneurial entities collaborating with it, transforming Isola Edipo into a forefront terrain of real practice for a new development model through the voluntary integration of social and environmental concerns of businesses in their commercial operations and relationships with stakeholders.