Starting on Tuesday, Moscow's Illyuzion Theater is hosting the 7th Italian Film Festival, "From Venice to Moscow." Over six days, the festival will showcase movies shown at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, which took place in September of last year.
The festival is a real treat for filmlovers. It is organized by the Venice International Film Festival and the Institute of Italian Culture (ICI) in Moscow.
Opening the festival will be the film "Per amor vostro," directed by Giuseppe Gaudino with Valeria Golino, who has received the prestigious Volpi Cup for best actress. It will continue with "L'attesa" by Piero Messina, "Non essere cattivo" by Claudio Caligari, "Harry's Bar" by Carlotta Cerquetti, "Pecore in erba" by Alberto Caviglia, "Bagnoli jungle" by Antonio Capuano, "Banat (il viaggio)" by Adriano Valerio, "A Bigger Splash" by Luca Guadagnino; and "Sangue del mio sangue" by Marco Bellocchio.
Nine movies make for a dense program. "Each film has its own theme, style and voice, but together they form the social and cultural fabric of Italy," said Olga Strada, director of the ICI, at the festival's opening press conference. The press conference was attended the Italian ambassador to the Russian Federation, Cesare Maria Ragaglini; the actors Roberta Mattei and Massimiliano Gallo; film directors Giuseppe Gaudino and Carlotta Cerquetti; and Russian film critic,Vsevolod Korshunov.
This is Strada's first festival as ICI director. "Italian culture plays an important role in a metropolis like Moscow; it's a vital part of Moscow cultural life," she told The Moscow Times in an interview. In past years, she noted, the movie theaters were packed, not only with Italians living in Moscow or Russians interested in Italian culture, but by film buffs. This year may be a bit different, since Strada has brought to Moscow not only the works of acclaimed movie makers, but also experimental movies.
"You see the world changing, and the medium of cinema is able to represent this change most clearly," Strada said.
After Moscow, the film festival will move to St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
Cinema Illyuzion. 1/15 Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. Metro Taganskaya. For more information about the films and schedule, see illuzion-cinema.ru or coolconnections.ru.
Contact the author at artsreporter@imedia.ru
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