Lancia is main sponsor of the 69th Venice International Film Festival

For the seventh consecutive year, Lancia will be the main sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival, scheduled from August 29 to 8 September 2012. For this prestigious event, the Brand will provide the organisation with a fleet featuring the new Lancia Thema, the first flagship to unite the best of two industrial cultures, with its typically American dimensions, personality and performance and the interior elegance, comfort and exclusivity of Lancia’s greats. The model debuted at the last edition as Official Car, accompanying VIPs and movie stars on the red carpet.

The new Lancia Flavia will also be used to provide an exclusive courtesy car service. It is the first time that a convertible version performs this special duty at the Venice Lido. The glamorous convertible embraces the stylistic features of the Lancia brand, giving a unique interpretation of the Chrysler 200 launched on the European market and is distinguished by an elegant and dynamic look. Equipped with the brilliant 175 HP 2.4 litre petrol engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission, the new Lancia Flavia boasts generous external dimensions. It can accommodate up to four adults and guarantees a refined driving experience, whether tackling the daily trip in town to go to the office or when taking to splendid scenic roads out of town at weekends. The new car will without a doubt win over a customer who seeks exclusiveness, technology and Italian taste in a car.

The Lancia Café will be back this year, too. This is the exclusive meeting place set up in the pool area looking onto the sea of Hotel Excelsior at the Venice Lido. Proposed in the version that made its debut in the last edition, with an area of over 2000 square metres, the Lancia Café is an exclusive and welcoming location for talents, producers and the media to meet and for one-to-one interviews with directors and actors, with about 700 square metres of covered and air conditioned floor space. Ever more exclusive and refined, the Lancia Café will be hosting events and meetings organised by the Brand as well as by production companies, leading magazines and cinema institutions.

By sponsoring the 69th Venice International Film Festival, Lancia is consolidating its links with the world of the cinema even further. These links are already close, as demonstrated by the appearance of Lancia cars in famous films such as: “Big Deal on Madonna Street" in 1958, “The Easy Life” in 1962, “A Man and a Woman” in 1966, “Deep Red” in 1975 and “Pour la peau d’un flic” in 1981. Since 2006, the brand has also supported major film festivals, those distinguished by class, style, importance and international character. Without forgetting the product placement of Lancia cars in famous films such as, for example, the recent presence of the Thema and Delta models in the movie "To Rome with Love" - written and directed by Woody Allen - set in Rome, where this carefree romantic comedy unfolds in the midst of charming settings and locations which symbolise the "Italian way of life". Lastly, the Delta, the model most associated with the world of cinema in the Lancia range, was cast in the thriller "Angels & Demons" (2009) in addition to starring in attractive adverts featuring Richard Gere.