Venice, Venezia, Ciao Italy! Ahhh, this place! From the moment you arrive you instantly get the feeling that you are about to experience something unique and memorable. Maybe it is the history of the place, which involves you in an unexplainable way, I will never know but there is definitely something about it.
For a person who is absolutely scared of water (you know I am not the best swimmer), you might think that this was not the favourite place to visit, but not even millions of litres of water managed to stop me from enjoying the magical Venice, that constantly fed my soul with inspiring moments – just like in a movie.
The reason I packed my suitcases and jumped on a plane to Venice was the 74th Venice International Film Festival and I was all ready to celebrate the festival with the amazing watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Jaeger Le-Coultre maison has been a partner of the festival for more than a decade and in the same period the brand has been closely associated with the best artistic film festivals around the world, including Shanghai, and San Sebastian. While creating artistic watch designs, the brand also pays tribute to the creative talent of filmmakers by annually awarding the “Glory to the Filmmaker” Award.
This year was extra special for Le-Coultre, as the maison launched a very exclusive edition of their iconic Rendez-Vous watches. The beautiful and feminine Rendez-Vous watch is so unique that it really cannot be compared with anything else. I believe the watches are perfect for all occasions and no matter if you are going for a gala dinner or for a casual get-together, you will always have a special feeling, when matching your outfit with such an elegant and unique watch.
Together with bloggers from all over the world I was invited by Jaeger-LeCoultre to experience the most fantastic film festival. I can tell you that we were ready for the most incredible time and the feeling of walking down the glamourous red carpet wearing a beautiful Rendez-Vous watch before the premiere of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri” is something I will never forget. The movie is a dark comedy drama with Woody Harrelson (I was so excited to see him!), Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Peter Dinklage (He unfortunately was not there, but I would have loved to see him, as I am his biggest fan!). The movie won the Venice Film Festival award for the best screenplay and I was really happy when it was announced, because I loved the film and I think it was fully deserved.
Jaeger-LeCoultre invited us to express the actor we had inside us, by capturing an iconic moment or scene from the movies. I have to admit that during the days in Venice, I felt like I was in a movie all the time with this beautiful city as the movie set, great people around me, a lot of different outfits for different scenes and of course wearing my amazing watch from Jaeger-LeCoultre.
When thinking about the Jaeger-LeCoultre team, I am speechless (which does not happen often, haha). It was such a pleasure to work with all of them and I loved the way we experienced the city and festival together, it was just perfect and like a dream you don’t want to wake up from. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gala Dinner was the icing on the cake, as we had a wonderful night in the Venetian Arsenal while we were teleported to this scenario that reminded me of the old Hollywood movies. So glamourous!
The night had some very special guests, as the maison honoured Catherine Deneuve with an award celebrating her outstanding career. The talented actress Diane Kruger was the one presenting the award at the annual gala evening and the event was just amazing!
A beautiful speech and a video showing the early days of Catherine’s career, starting in the 1960s, was played during the gala dinner and it was a truly touching moment. Catherine has worked alongside the most famous names in film, including Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut (one of my favorite directors), Jacques Demy, and Raul Ruiz. She has continued to take on artistic challenges and stretch the limits of her art ever since, teaming up with out-of-the-ordinary directors of striking creativity. I loved the idea of celebrating Catherine Deneuve and paying tribute to one of cinema’s all-time greats, a woman who has continually reinvented herself through one-of-a-kind roles.
In Venice we stayed at the glorious Kempinski San Clemente, which is located on a private island, so to get to and from the hotel we went by glamourous boats to visit different places in the incredible city on the water. I can tell you that this kind of transport is anything but boring, we were blessed with amazing sunsets and the most beautiful views while going back and forth, which created some unreal memories that I will not forget. I can honestly say that to sum up the trip, everything was beautiful and glamourous and it makes so much sense to end this post with the hashtag of the week: #likeinamovie
Photos: Anya Sandul / Alexandra Schenellen
I am wearing: Galia Lahav / Jaeger-LeCoultre
