Following the great success of the past editions in Bangkok, Manila and Hanoi, Moviemov Italian Film Festival returns to the Philippines with its tenth edition: the festival will take place from February 1 to 6, 2021 in an out-and-out virtual movie house, thanks to the participation of My Movies, bringing once more the best of the new Italian cinema to the Philippines. The Guest of Honor of this 10th edition will be the actress, Sara Serraiocco, one of the new international faces of the Italian cinema.
“Given the measures taken to contain the spread of the pandemic in Asia”, the two artistic directors Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli announced, “we decided to confirm the tenth edition of Moviemov Italian Film Festival Manila making it accessible online, as we are convinced that more than ever, it’s important to restart through culture and cinema.”
“I’m honored to be the guest of honor of Moviemov, a festival that gives visibility to Italian movies in the Philippines”, declared Sara Serraiocco. “Especially in this difficult time for cinema, with the movie houses still closed”.
Produced and organized by the cultural association Playtownroma and directed by Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli, Moviemov Italian Film Festival is a nomadic festival created in 2010 thanks to the support of the Directorate General for Cinema of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and on the request of the Italian Embassies in Bangkok, Manila, and Hanoi, with the support of public institutions and other partners in Italy and abroad.
The main purpose of the festival is to create a platform for contemporary Italian Cinema abroad, particularly in South East Asia, a region that represents a more and more interesting destination, from the cultural and commercial points of view.
This year, for the first time, Moviemov Italian Cinema Philippines will be organized in three different parts: Moviemov Showcase, with eight movies and a tribute to Pinocchio, on the occasion of its 140th anniversary; Moviemov Industry; and a Social Segment, with the screenings of the short movie Princess by Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino.
The festival is organized in the Philippines with the support of the Italian Embassy, the collaboration of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Philippine Italian Association, Ateneo de Naga, Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan, De La Salle University Bacolod (Institute of the Moving Image), De La Salle University Manila, College of Saint Benilde School of Arts and Design, University of the Philippines Diliman Film Institute and the endorsement of the media partners like CNN Philippines, ANC, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Business and News.
MOVIEMOV SHOWCASE
This year’s showcase presents the following titles:
1. NON ODIARE/ Thou Shalt Not Hate by Mauro Mancini
Simone Segre, a renowned surgeon of Jewish origins, lives in a city in the north-east of Italy. A quiet life, an elegant apartment and no connection with his past. One day he finds himself assisting a man victim of a hit and run accident. But when he discovers a nazi tattoo on his chest, Simone abandons him to his destiny. Filled with guilt, he ends up tracing the man’s family: Marica, the eldest daughter; Marcello, a teenager plagued with racial hate; and little Paolo. The night will come when Marica knocks at Simone’s door and unknowingly asks for payback.
2. VOLEVO NASCONDERMI / Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti
Toni, the son of an emigrant Italian mother, deported back to Italy from Switzerland where he had a difficult childhood and adolescence, lived for years in a shack by the river without ever succumbing to loneliness, the cold, or hunger.
Meeting the sculptor Renato Marino Mazzacurati was his chance to return to painting, the beginning of a redemption story in which he feels art is the only way to form his identity, a real opportunity to make his name known and loved by the world.
“El Tudesc,” as people called him, was a lonely, scrawny, ugly, and often mocked and humiliated man. He became an imaginative artist who painted a fantasy world of tigers, gorillas, and jaguars on the banks of the Po. Overpowered by a regime that wanted to “hide” people who are different and a victim of his own anxieties, he is locked up in an institution. He quickly returns to painting while there. More than anyone, Toni paints himself, as if confirming his wish to exist beyond the rejection he had been enduring since childhood. Leaving the psychiatric hospital is a turning point towards redemption and the public acknowledgment of his talent. Fame allows him to show off the wealth he has gained and open his eyes to the life and feelings he had always repressed. His work over time has proved to be a gift to collective humanity, the gift of his diversity.
3. I PREDATORI / Predators by Pietro Castellitto
And the madness of a 25-year-old youth will set them on a collision course, discovering the cards to reveal that everyone has a secret and no one is what he or she seems to be – and that we are all predators.
4. PALAZZO DI GIUSTIZIA / Ordinary Justice by Chiara Bellosi
An ordinary day in an Italian court of law. At the heart of the big courthouse, a young defendant is on trial, his accomplice murdered by the owner of the gas station they tried to rob. There is the ritual, the jargon, the robes. As spectators, we see the witnesses, the evidence, the questioning, but there is more. Out of the courtroom, the halls are swarming with people as daily life carries on as usual, noisy and chaotic. The families of the victims and defendants alike, waiting out.
5. PADRENOSTRO by Claudio Noce
10-years-old Valerio witnesses together with his mother a failed assassination attempt on his father Alfonso by a terrorist commando. From that moment on, fear and a constant sense of vulnerability dramatically mark the feelings of the whole family. That summer, Valerio meets Christian, a boy slightly older than him. Lonely, rebellious, and bold, he seems to have come out of nowhere. Their meeting will change his life forever.
6. PUNTASACRA by Francesca Mazzoleni
The last patch of land – the last triangle of habitable space at the mouth of the Tiber. Its inhabitants call it Punta Sacra, Sacred Point. Realism and imagination constantly intertwine in this suburb of Rome, where Franca leads an all-female community.
A family hanging between nostalgia and an inevitable pragmatism, constantly struggling between a strong sense of belonging and the lack of opportunities for the new generations. A story set between wild realism and popular imagination, between nostalgia and inevitable pragmatism. That sacred point becomes a theatre for the resistance of a community that expresses its right to live there.
7. PINOCCHIO by Matteo Garrone
In this new imagining of the iconic classic beloved across the world, Matteo Garrone returns to the authentic roots of the Pinocchio story. With this groundbreaking live-action film shot in stunning Italian locations, Garrone creates a rich fantasy world of mystery and wonder, filled with luminous, funny, and touching moments.
Academy Award® winning actor Roberto Benigni will play the key role of Geppetto, an old woodcarver who creates a puppet. But something magical happens – the cheeky puppet begins to talk and can walk, run and eat like any young boy. Geppetto calls him Pinocchio and brings him up as his son.
But Pinocchio finds it hard to be good. Easily led astray, he tumbles from one misadventure to another as he is tricked, kidnapped, and chased by bandits through a fantastical world full of imaginative creatures – from the belly of a giant fish to the land of toys and the field of miracles. His loyal friend, the Fairy with the Turquoise Hair, tries to make him see that his dream — to become a real boy — can never come true until Pinocchio finally changes his ways.
8. IL MIO CORPO by Michele Pennetta
Oscar, 15, helps his father with the scrap. Stanley, a migrant from Nigeria, lives on hoping for the regularization of his friend. On the harsh land of Sicily and when everything seems to separate them, except the feeling of undergoing the same overwhelming wave of choices made by others.
Screenings will be followed by talks with filmmakers, actors, and producers, which will be accessible online both in the Philippines and Italy. The festival will also pay tribute to Pinocchio, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the first appearance of the famous character, the protagonist of Carlo Collodi’s children’s novel, initially published serially on the weekly “Giornale per i bambini” (Children’s newspaper), between 1881 and 1882. The tribute will navigate through literature and cinema, with detailed “focus on” and masterclasses, and it will be organized thanks to the Embassy of Italy in Manila, and in collaboration with PIA and Ateneo de Naga University Press.
Watch them all via this link.
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