International Screenwriters at Sergio Amidei, Corpo celeste Best First Work

by Vittoria Scarpa

18/07/2011 - Ten international films, all characterised by innovative screenplays, capable of experimenting with new narrative forms and with special attention to social themes, are in the running for the Sergio Amidei International Award for Best Film Screenplay, the 30th edition of which runs from July 14-23, in Gorizia.

Opened last Thursday by Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech [trailer, film focus] the event, which is organised by the town of Gorizia and the Sergio Amidei Film Institute (screenwriter, among many others, for An Average Little Man by Mario Monicelli), hosts screenings, retrospectives and book previews dedicated to film writing, with guest directors, screenwriters and critics called to talk about the current state of contemporary film writing.

Apart from Hooper’s film, which won four Oscars this year (among them Best Original Screenplay), competing films include: Another Year [trailer, film focus] (Mike Leigh, 2010), Benvenuti al sud [trailer] (Luca Miniero, 2010), The Illusionist [trailer, film focus] (Sylvain Chomet, 2010), The Solitude of Prime Numbers [trailer] (Saverio Costanzo, 2010), Sorelle Mai [trailer] (Marco Bellocchio, 2011), The Kid with a Bike [trailer, film focus] (Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne 2011), A Quiet Life [trailer, film focus] (Claudio Cupellini, 2010) and Vento di primavera [trailer] (Rose Bosch, 2010).

Among the many events the festival has to offer is a homage to Francois Truffaut on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of The Woman Next Door (1981), with a complete retrospective on all the films he directed and wrote, along with a presentation of Vivement Truffaut! , a posthumous volume by film critic Ugo Casiraghi.

The jury of the Amidei Award – comprising directors Ettore Scola, Franco Giraldi, Marco Risi and Giuseppe Piccioni, screenwriter Francesco Bruni, actress Giovanna Ralli, producer Silvia D'Amico and successful screenwriter and TV writer Francesco Piccolo – will announce the winning film for the Award for Best Screenplay on July 23. Meanwhile the Award for Best First Work 2011 has been given to Corpo celeste [trailer, film focus] by Alice Rohrwacher, which triumphed at this year’s Cannes and has already won a Nastro d’Argento Award for Best Emerging Director.

(Translated from Italian)