“Rome, Creative City”, the 23rd edition of L’Isola del Cinema kicks off
- From 17 June to 3 September, the annual summer film event will return to Tiber Island: three months of premieres, tributes, guests, awards and virtual reality
“The idea is to recreate a sort of Via Veneto where we can discuss film, a beautiful parlour where we can think about and make films”. It is in this spirit that artistic director Giorgio Ginori will officially open the 23rd edition of L’Isola del cinema, the annual summer film event in Rome, held in the spectacular location of Tiber Island (17 June – 3 September 2017). The title of this year’s edition is “Rome, a Creative City”, in tribute to UNESCO’s recent recognition of Rome as a hub for creativity and film. 240 films will be screened in total in four theatres, across 80 days of screenings and events.
This year seven films will be battling it out for the Groupama Award for First and Second Works, reserved for new talented Italian filmmakers (“the magnificent seven”, in Ginori’s words): The Furlough [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Claudio Amendola, At War with Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile] by Pif, There is a Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabio Mollo
film profile] by Fabio Mollo, Worldly Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Marco Danieli
film profile] by Marco Danieli, I Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Sidney Sibilia, Husband & Wife [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Simone Godano, and Pure Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roberto De Paolis
film profile] by Roberto de Paolis. The Ciak d’Italia section will instead feature films by well-established directors of the likes of Marco Bellocchio, Cristina Comencini, Michele Placido, Ferzan Ozpetek and Gianni Amelio. Guests expected to attend include the aforementioned Bellocchio, as well as Paolo Virzì, Roberto Faenza, Edoardo De Angelis, Micaela Ramazzotti.
Also making a comeback this year is Isola Mondo, an event which showcases, in partnership with embassies and cultural institutes, the most interesting pieces its host countries have to offer. This year’s edition will focus on countries in the East of the world: starting from Australia, it will cross the Orient and head towards the neighbouring Balkan countries, passing through Japan, China, South Korea and Israel. Among the premieres scheduled for the event are German-Israeli film The 90 Minutes War by Eyal Halfon. The section dedicated to International Film will prioritise the most significant works of last season, including Nocturnal Animals [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Tom Ford, The Salesman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ashgar Farhadi, and La La Land by Damien Chazelle. The third edition of European Women Filmmaker, for European directors, will meanwhile be dedicated to female German filmmakers this year, and among the films being presented is the multi-award-winning Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile] by Maren Ade.
A large section of the festival will also be dedicated to documentaries (Fuoco sul Reale): among the titles that audiences on Tiber Island will be able to discover or rediscover are Assalto al cielo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Francesco Munzi, Crazy for Football [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Volfango De Biasi and Liberami [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Federica di Giacomo, as well as I Am Not Your Negro [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Raoul Peck and Les Sauteurs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Abou Bakar Sidibé, Moritz Siebert and Estphan Wagner.
A new addition to this year’s edition of the festival is Generation, the section dedicated to immersive film and 360° virtual reality. Devised by Mariangela Matarozzo, the former director of the MashRome Film Fest, this year’s edition of the section will open with No Borders by Haider Rashid, the winner of the MigrArti Award, with actor Elio Germano in attendance. The other initiatives on the programme for the festival include short film competition Mamma Roma e i suoi Quartieri (in its VI edition), and tributes to three leading figures in the world of visual art: Raffaello Sanzio, David Lynch and Robert Doisneau.
(Translated from Italian)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
