04/03/2013 - The fourth edition of the Bari International Film Festival proposing 137 films, cinema lectures and seminars

"We are living a moment in which this country is confused and twisted. And perhaps this edition of the festival could suggest a model around which people could converge and reaffirm the basic importance of culture.” This is Ettore Scola’s vision for the Bif&st, Bari International Film Festival, which he is heading (director is Felice Laudadio).

The programme, which will take place on March 16-23, includes 17 international premieres, 7 global ones, 8 lectures on cinema and 45 seminars. Among the Italians featured is Benvenuto presidente! by Riccardo Milani, which will open the festival. Others include Mi rifaccio vivo by Sergio Rubini, Fiamme di Gadda. A spasso con l'ingegnere by Mario Sesti, A Late quartet by Yaron Zilberman, El artista y la modelo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Fernando Trueba, Stand Up Guy by Fisher Stevens, The Place Beyond the Pines by Derek Cianfrance, Stoker by Chan-wook Park and Road North [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Mika Kaurismaki.

Special events are also being planned including some dedicated to Mariangela Melato, Emido Greco, Orazio Costa, Federico Fellini (twenty years after his death), Alberto Sordi with sixteen documentaries, and an homage to Academy Award winners Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo with a screening of films they worked on. Confirmed guests include Claudio Bisio, Beppe Fiorello, Sergio Rubini, Lillo, Neri Marcoré, Emilio Solfrizzi, Margherita Buy, Kasia Smutniak, Laura Morante, Giancarlo Giannini, Lina Sastri, Paolo Virzì, Marco Bellocchio, Beppino Englaro, Sergio Castellitto, Giuseppe Tornatore, Marco Tullio Giordana.

The "Federico Fellini Platinum Award for Cinematic Excellence" will be given out to people from the Italian cinema industry, as well as international players: Ettore Scola, Lina Wertmuller, Stephen Frears, Giancarlo Giannini, Bertrand Tavernier, Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo. The "Federico Fellini Platinum Award for Artistic Excellence" will go to Adriano Celentano. 

(Translated from Italian)