25/09/2006

Open Season, the first computer-generated feature animation film produced by Sony and directed by one of Lion King’s directors; Over the Hedge, from the creators of Shrek and Madagascar (and distributed by UIP); Gian Paolo Cugno’s Salvatore – This is Life, the first Italian film produced entirely by Walt Disney, starring Enrico Lo Verso, Galatea Ranzi, Giancarlo Giannini and Alessandro Malli from a script by Paolo Di Reda: these a just a few of the films in the Alice nella città (Alice in the City) section of the Rome Film Festival (October 13-21), devoted entirely to the youngest audiences and their universe.

Alice nella città, directed by Gianluca Giannelli, features a film and literary competition. The cinema section is made up of 16 feature films from every corner of the world, on themes related to the family, growing up and the search for one’s own roots, both in the K12 section, for the very youngest, and the Young Adults section, for teenagers.

The selection includes films from the US (Doug Sadler’s Swimmers), the UK (Jeremy Brock’s Driving Lessons), Switzerland (Freddi Murer’s Vitus, starring Bruno Ganz, see Focus) and Brazil (Breno Silveira’s Two Sons of Francisco).

There are also animated titles, such as Serge Elissalde and Grégoire Solotareff’s U and Azur et Asmar [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the great animation filmmaker Michel Ocelot. The only Italian film in competition is Liscio, directed by Claudio Antonimi and starring Laura Morante.

Important premieres in competition include: Open Season by Jill Culton and Roger Allers; Over the Hedge by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick; Red Like the Sky by Cristiano Bortone, in collaboration with UNICEF; and Those Happy Days by duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, a special event in the section.

There will also be a selection of 20 short films, 10 in the K12 section and 10 in Young Adults.

(Translated from Italian)