07/03/2008

Despite newfound competition from the Alba International Film Festival (which this year moved its dates up by two months), the Bergamo Film Meeting is avoiding controversy. After having celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, this year’s edition (from March 8-16) reaffirms its affinity for European film.

The eight titles in competition (all first or second European films) will vie for the Golden Rosa Camusa Audience Award. Of these, two are Italian premieres: Stefano Chiantini focuses on three male rock-climbers caught in a landslide in Una piccola storia while Roberto Cuzzillo in Senza fine depicts a lesbian couple’s desire to have a child.

Except for German title Sooner or Later by Ulrike von Ribbeck, the others in competition come from a more marginal Europe. While France is represented only by a retrospective of René Clair’s talking pictures, other offerings include Janez Lapajne’s Short Circuits (Slovenia), Goodnight Irene [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Paolo Marinou-Blanco (Portugal), A Man’s Work by Aleksi Salmenperä (Finland) and Marek Stacharski’s Przebacz (Poland).

Inaugurating the festival, on the evening of Women’s Day, will be Czech director Alice Nellis, in competition with Little Girl Blue, and Alina Marazzi with the documentary We Want Roses Too. There are 14 documentaries programmed this year, including acclaimed Bulgarian film The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories by Andrey Paounov.

The many parallel events include a complete retrospective on Julio Medem (from his feature debut Cows to his latest, Chaotic Ana) and a posthumous tribute to Freddie Francis, the extraordinary British director and cinematographer for filmmakers such as Joseph Losey and David Lynch.

However, the most highly anticipated event is perhaps the Italian premiere of The Man from London [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which marks the return to the Bergamo Film Meeting of Béla Tarr, previously the subject of a wide retrospective.

(Translated from Italian)