15/09/2003

For the first time ever, the Terra Festival in Siena , will be dedicating its entire programme to European comedy, with just a few works from the wider international scene, from countries like India and the United States. The Festival takes place from September 23 to 27, and is directed by Carlo Verdone. This year’s event features 9 works in competition, and the idea is to look at how the way of making people laugh at the cinema has changed in recent times. “We looked for works from the more minor cinematographic industries – said Carlo Verdone at the press conference to present the festival “to see how comedy is doing in countries like Finland, Austria or Bosnia”.
It’s an exciting project for a small festival, which nevertheless has aims to have a big impact on the larger and firmly established national festivals. “There are a thousand types of comedy on show” added the Roman actor and director, “and the jury, led by Peter Greenaway, has to choose the Best Film amongst entries like the Italian film My Brother-in-Law by Alessandro Piva, which is being shown as a national premiere, the Austrian work Poppitz by Harald Sicheritz, an ironic look at organised holidays, a mirror of the petty and bizarre nature of everyday life, or the Slovenian An Ode to the poet by Martin Srebotnjak, an ironic story about the ups and downs of a contemporary poet, who is forced to work on advertising slogans and jingles”.

Though the Festival isn’t forgetting the greats from the past of Italian cinema, and it will be featuring a round table discussion and a retrospective on Ugo Tognazzi, one of the most eclectic actors on the national artistic scene. There’ll be a presentation of masterpieces like The Bishop's Room by Dino Risi, Blow-Out by Marco Ferreri and I Knew Her Well by Antonio Pietrangeli. But there’ll also be a look to the future with the screening of Passato prossimo, the first work by the actor’s youngest daughter, Maria Sole Tognazzi
There will be many special guests attending the event, including Dino Risi himself, who will be given a Special Lifetime Achievement Award, with other appearances by Mario Monicelli, Gillo Pontecorvo and Ferzan Ozpetek.

(Translated from Italian)