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BERGAMO 2017

European authors debate contemporaneity at the Bergamo Film Meeting

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- The international competition will this year feature seven feature films that stand out for their linguistic and narrative originality

European authors debate contemporaneity at the Bergamo Film Meeting
The Stopover by Delphine and Muriel Coulin

This year’s thirty-fifth edition of the Bergamo Film Meeting  (11-19 March) will have two new features, two sections on figures who play a fundamental but relatively unexplored role: screenwriters and costume designers. Tribute will be paid to screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and costume designer Theodor Pištěk, with fifteen or so films written by the former, and an exhibition of eleven of the original costumes used for the films Amadeus (1984) and Valmont (1989) by the latter, along with a few sketches. Both characters have ties to Miloš Forman, to whom the main retrospective of this thirty-fifth edition is dedicated (see news article). 

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The European section once again turns its gaze this year on the offerings of three authors: French director Dominique Cabrera, Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári, and Greek director Thanos Anastopoulos (see news article). "They represent three different ways of reading the present, interpreting its geography and translating its complexity”, state those curating the event.

Reserved, as always, for new authors, the international competition will feature seven feature films, unreleased in Italy, characterised by the linguistic and narrative originality with which they broach themes of contemporaneity. The seven features selected will battle it out for the Bergamo Film Meeting Prize, which is awarded to the three best films of the section as voted for by audiences. They include: Alba [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a coming-of-age story and Ana Cristina Barragán’s debut piece, a co-production between Ecuador, Mexico, and Greece; The Stopover [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile
]
, the second film by the Coulin sisters (17 Girls [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), which is about two young female soldiers returning from Afghanistan, starring Soko (the singer of I'll Kill Her) and Ariane Labed (Alps [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, The Lobster [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile
]
); and Marija [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Koch
film profile
]
, Michael Koch’s debut film, a German-Swiss co-production about a Ukrainian immigrant (Margarita Breitkreiz) who makes ends meet by working as a maid in a hotel in Dortmund, but dreams of opening her own hairdressing salon. Then there’s The Giant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Johannes Nyholm
film profile
]
, the first film by Johannes Nyholm, a Swedish-Danish co-production and both an eccentric sports film and moving fairy-tale, Waldstille [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martijn Maria Smits
film profile
]
by Dutch director Martijn Maria Smits, a debut piece about guilt and forgiveness which never gives into sentimentalism, Toril [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurent Teyssier
film profile
]
, the debut piece by French filmmaker Laurent Teyssier, a sun-drenched and rural thriller starring Vincent Rottiers (Dheepan [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jacques Audiard
film profile
]
), and Waves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Grzegorz Zariczny
film profile
]
, the debut work of Polish documentary maker Grzegorz Zariczny, on the frustrated hopes of Polish youth. 

The Visti da vicino section will feature 14 documentary films, independent productions from all over the world, none of which have been released in Italy, with the world premiere of Fame [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Giacomo Abbruzzese and Angelo MilanoListen to the Silence [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Mariam ChachiaSecondo me [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Pavel CuzuiocShooting Ourselves [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Christine Cynn (co-director of The Act of Killing [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Shadows of Paradise [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Sebastian LangeA Mere Breath [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Monica Lăzurean-GorganRio Corgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Maya Kosa and Sérgio Da CostaOn the Platform [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Stefan MihalachiLate Blossom Blues [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Wolfgang Pfoser-Almer and Stefan WolnerBezness as Usual [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Alex PitstraWhen Paul Came over the Sea [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Jakob Preuss, Brother Jakob [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Elí Roland SachsHotel Dallas [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang, and The Charro of Toluquilla by José Villalobos Romero.

Taking centre stage among this year’s guests is Chintis Lundgren, who was born in Tallin in 1981 and now resides in Pula, Croatia, where, in 2014, she founded the Adriatic Animation Studio together with producer Draško Ivezić

Last but not least, worth mentioning is that the winning film of last year’s edition of the event, Enclave [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, was released in November 2016, whilst the runner-up, Home Care [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Slávek Horák
film profile
]
, will be released in Italy next autumn.

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(Translated from Italian)

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