On the threshold between land and water: A re-reading of the Venetian lagoon.

This article examines the evolving relationship between media and the Venetian lagoon, proposing Venice as an "assemblage"—a dynamic hybrid of natural elements, infrastructures, and social practices—that shapes a distinctive cinematic perspective termed the "threshold" gaze. Through analysis of recent films such as Daniele Ancarani’s *Atlantide*, Andrea De Fusco’s *In Aquis Fundata*, and Giovanni Pellegrini’s *Lagunaria*, the article highlights how cinema rooted in the lagoon’s water-land interface captures environmental transformations including the 2019 acqua granda flood, the COVID-19 pandemic, and overtourism. It argues for a rethinking of Venice not merely as a static image or anthropocentric subject but as an active media environment where water, architecture, and human and non-human actors co-produce meaning and cinematic vision. This "new lagoon cinema" embraces the instability and hybridity of Venice’s environment, fostering an ecological and aesthetic approach that integrates materiality, media, and environmental change.