VENICE AFTER DARK

The New Faces of La Dolce Vita 

Venice has always known how to turn an evening into a visual language. On 11 September, during the closing days of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, that language moved away from the traditional red carpet and into the historic rooms of Ca’ Sagredo, where fashion, cinema and live performance met under one roof. The Royal Gentlemen Gala Dinner and Congress Awards, presented as La Dolce Vita, brought together an international circle of artists whose careers cross borders rather than belonging to a single scene. 

The evening was less about a conventional gala programme and more about creating a sequence of encounters. The centuries-old Venetian palazzo became the setting for contrasting artistic identities: opera, couture performance, contemporary music and Egyptian cinema. The result was a deliberately international portrait of modern entertainment, where established traditions could exist beside newer forms of crossover culture. 

Manana Palagashvili 

Manana Palagashvili arrived with perhaps the most natural connection between these worlds. Producer, singer, artist manager and co-organizer of the first AI Film Fest Athens, she has worked across music, cinema, fashion and cultural initiatives. Her professional geography stretches from international talent competitions and film festivals to Munich Fashion Week and Ukrainian Cinema Film Days, making Venice another chapter in a career built around cultural exchange. In Ca’ Sagredo, she appeared not simply as a guest but also as a performer. 

Alina Zamalieva 

If Palagashvili represented the meeting point between industries, Alina Zamalieva brought the architecture of classical music into the evening. The soprano has accumulated more than 15 international honours and has performed in major European venues. Her artistic education also includes the Bel Canto Academy, where she studied with the legendary Mirella Freni. Zamalieva’s international profile extends beyond opera audiences, reflecting a career that moves naturally between classical stages and contemporary cultural projects. 

Yuri and Ksenia Wheelman 

Yuri and Ksenia Wheelman, whose Wheelman Duo occupies a distinctive space between fashion, music and performance, brought another visual language to the evening. Their signature Couture Crossover combines vocal performance, iconic cinema music, movement and visual storytelling. Their artistic story began at the Bolshoi Theatre and has since developed into an international format presented from Monte-Carlo to Cannes. Their work with Blue Alliance Monaco is now extending into Echo of the Ocean, an audiovisual project connecting music, artificial intelligence and ocean protection — a particularly fitting idea for an event overlooking the Venetian lagoon. 

Caroline Azmy 

The cinematic dimension came through Caroline Azmy, one of the recognisable faces of contemporary Egyptian television. Trained in acting and directing at Cairo’s Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts, Azmy built her television profile through projects including The Godfather and Abu Al-Arousa. Her career has increasingly moved towards varied screen roles, with recent projects continuing to broaden her presence beyond the romantic young-woman image associated with some of her earlier work. 

Rezeda Kalimullina 

Completing the musical spectrum was Rezeda Kalimullina, whose artistic vocabulary moves through soul, jazz and pop. With 25 years of stage experience, she brings a different performance energy to the programme. Her artistic development has also included work with contemporary music projects, adding another layer to an evening already built around the idea of crossing genres rather than remaining inside one musical tradition. 

A New Kind of La Dolce Vita 

What connected the guests was therefore not a single genre, nationality or professional circle, but movement between worlds. Opera could sit beside couture performance; Egyptian television could meet European cinema culture; contemporary music could share the same rooms as a historic Venetian palazzo. Ca’ Sagredo, a centuries-old National Monument overlooking the Grand Canal, provided the visual continuity — old Venice surrounding artists whose careers are increasingly international. 

Perhaps that is the more contemporary version of La Dolce Vita: not simply a red carpet, but a room where different cultural languages become part of the same picture. In Venice, where every façade already carries a story, the evening added another one — written through music, fashion, cinema and the people moving between them. 

Royal Gentlemen Gala Dinner & Congress Awards — La Dolce Vita 

11 September 2026 | Ca’ Sagredo, Venice | Black Tie 

Hosted by Royal Gentlemen Club — Thomas Misse & Marek Harmony 

Congress Awards founded by Anna Stukkert 

Official Jewellery Partner: Oliver Weber Collection