Venice 2018: Hours & Hours of Cinema – Why So Many Long Films?

This year at the 75th Venice Film Festival has been exhausting. It’s a challenge to keep up with all the 8:30AM morning screenings and 10:30PM evening screenings every day, but it’s not only that. There have been so many long films that it seems especially grueling. The length of films is a never-ending discussion, something that audiences have debated for decades. We all know the basic rules: no film can (or should) run for more than 3 hours, and no film should be shorter than 80 minutes (with the sweet spot usually being ~90 minutes, an hour and a half). It’s a different discussion in Hollywood than it is at film festivals, because at festivals many filmmakers tend to express themselves by not holding back, giving us as much footage as possible. Do we really need to watch so many 3 hour films? Are they really worth it? (Of course they are!) Don’t worry, there’s no definitive answer to this, but the thought has been on my mind over the past week. ›››

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