THE COMPETITION BEGINS, THE INCLUSIVE INCINEMA FESTIVAL, THE OFF THE BEATEN… SCREENS SECTION AND THE SALANI PRIZE
The sixth day of the Festival offers many titles and just as many screenings that take over two other city venues: the Teatro Politeama Rossetti and the Cinema Ambasciatori, next to Teatro Miela.
On Wednesday, January 24th, we begin at Cinema Ambasciatori at 10:00 a.m. with a film that is recommended for high school students, Una Gunjakâs EKSKURZIJA (Excursion BIH – HR – SRB – F – N – Q, 2023, col., 94′, Bosnian o.v.). The film takes us to Sarajevo, where a teenager seeking validation claims that she had sex for the first time during a game among students. Trapped in her own lie, she invents a pregnancy and becomes the center of a controversy that spirals out of control. Ekskurzija premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in the âFilmmakers of the Presentâ competition, where it received a Special Mention.
At Teatro Miela, at 11:00 a.m., the MASTERCLASS BY MINA MILEVA AND VESELA KAZAKOVA will be held. In 2008, the two authors created their own production company, Activist38, through which they have directed and produced provocative and socially relevant documentaries that have won many international awards over time. Despite this, their films have not been broadcast on Bulgarian television for years. This year, Mina and Vesela are participating in WEMW 2024 with their new project, Womaniser. Over the years, the Trieste Film Festival has screened all of their documentaries and films. Free admission, event in English
Returning to the theaters, at Politeama Rossetti from 2.00 p.m., we will be able to watch two films from the Off the Beaten⊠Screens section. The first one, in its international premiere, is the medium-length film by OlivĂ©r Rudolf, KAKTUSZEMBER (Cactusman, H, 2023, col., 47′ Hungarian o.v.), a romantic and surreal melodrama in three acts. Tibor has been in love with AlĂz since the first time the woman brought her clothes to his laundry. It was Tuesday, and it was raining. Her wet hair stuck to her forehead. The man would rather not wash AlĂzâs clothes, because they smell like lilacs. The second one is the short film MARIS B653 by Debora Vrizzi (I – F, 2022, col., 15′, Friulian o.v.). After a turbulence, astronaut Debora wakes up in a domestic environment that is familiar to her, but she struggles to recognize it because the objects have undergone a metamorphosis. She then meets two aliens, her mother and grandmother, who will telepathically answer her questions about life, sexuality and motherhood.
Also at 2:00 p.m., but this time at Cinema Ambasciatori, the documentary competition begins with Sybilla Tuxen’s VI ER RUSLAND (Silent Sun of Russia, DK, 2023, col., 71′, Russian – Spanish – Georgian o.v.). In its Italian premiere, the film portrays a generation of young Russians between 2018 and 2022. The film tells the story of three women, who are rebels and anarchists, and part of a global youth that dreams of living a modern life in freedom. The film premiered and competed at CPH:DOX 2023 in Copenhagen.
Also in the documentary competition, at Ambasciatori Cinema at 6:00 p.m., we will watch HOME SWEET HOME by Annika Mayer (D, 2023, col. & b-n, 68′, German o.v.) in Italian premiere. A family in the 1960s on Super8. Stories of a violent husband fifty years later. A film about the invisibility of domestic violence. Home Sweet Home premiered in competition at DOK Leipzig 2023.
At 8:00 p.m., the out-of-competition SAVVUSANNA SĂSARAD by Anna Hints (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, EST- F- IS, 2023, col., 89′, Estonian – Seto – VĂ”ro o.v.) will be screened in Italian premiere. Can a trip to the sauna change our souls? No story is too shameful, and no burden is too heavy when it is shared with the sisterhood. Sundance winner for Best Director, Savvusanna SĂ”sarad is an intimate and moving tale about trauma, healing and community. Best European Documentary at EFA 2023.
Finally, at the same venue, the documentary competition screens at 10:00 pm Vlad Petri’s ĂNTRE REVOLUÈII (Between Revolutions, RO – HR – Q – IR, 2023, col. & b-n, 70′, v.o. Romanian – Farsi) in Italian premiere. Two friends, separated by the revolutions in their respective countries, keep in touch writing letters to each other, defying distance and political turmoil. Premiered in the “Forum” section of the Berlinale 2023, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize, the film was then selected for many international festivals, including Thessaloniki, Sarajevo and Ji.hlava.
At 4:00 p.m., we also have the debut of the Corso Salani Prize with LALA by Ludovica Fales (I – SLO, 2023, col., 85′, Italian – Romanian o.v.). In Lala, the staging of a film about an undocumented girl becomes the pretext to involve a group of young migrants in a collective reflection on the difficulties they encounter in their attempt to emancipate themselves from their condition of invisibility. The film won the MYMovies Award at the last edition of the Bellaria FF.
The feature film competition will, instead, begin at 4:00 p.m. at Politeama Rossetti with HOTEL PULA by Andrej Korovljev (HR, 2023, col., 95′, Croatian-Bosnian o.v.) in its Italian premiere. The film brings us back to 1995 with the story of the impossible love between Una, a high school student from Pula, and an older refugee from war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina. The debut feature film premiered at the Pula Film Festival and was then presented at several international festivals, including those in Sarajevo and Tallinn.
At 6:00 p.m., the first compilation of the short film competition will be screened, while at 8:00 p.m., once again in the feature film competition, we will see the Italian premiere of the choral film inspired by real events, LIBERTATE by Tudor Giurgiu (Freedom, RO – H, 2023, col., 109′, Romanian language version). The film is set in the days of the December 1989 revolution, when the city of Sibiu becomes the scene of a violent assault that escalates into a bloody confrontation between soldiers, policemen, civilians and representatives of the secret police. The film was shown at the last Transilvania FF and other international festivals.
The out-of-competition film BOTA JONĂ by LuĂ na Bajrami (Phantom Youth, RKS – F, 2023, col., 94′, Albanian o.v.) will be closing the screenings at Politeama Rossetti at 10:00 p.m. Kosovo, 2007. ZoĂ© and Volta leave their remote village to attend the University of Pristina. Amidst social and political tensions, the two young women discover a country in turmoil. Directed by Franco-Kosovar actress and director LuĂ na Bajrami, Bota JonĂ« premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti Extra section.
We also remind you of a new initiative with todayâs free admission screenings at Teatro Miela, which is the collaboration with INCinema – Inclusive Film Festival, the first Italian festival that is also accessible to sensory disabled people. INCinema films have subtitles for deaf and hearing-impaired people and audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired people. At 6:00 p.m., L’ĂVĂNEMENT by Audrey Diwan (Happening, F, 2021, col., 100′, Italian dubbed v.), an adaptation of Nobel Prize Annie Ernauxâs novel of the same name, looking back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s (Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2021); followed by EN CORPS by CĂ©dric Klapisch (Rise, F – B, 2022, col., 117′, Italian dubbed v.), which tells the story of Elise, a promising classical dancer who tries to find a new direction in contemporary dancing after getting badly injured during a performance.
We would also like to mention I PRESENT YOU MY FILM!, at 4:00 p.m. at Teatro Miela, a presentation of short films made within the project âCorti al Confineâ. Moreover, there will be a very âtastyâ moment for sidebar events: at 6:00 p.m. we expect VERTICAL CHARDONNAY GMAJNE PRIMOSIC: The best white wine in Italy, a wine tasting by and at the Antico CaffĂš San Marco (reservation only on prenotazionitsff@gmail.com).
