11/04/2008

To be held in Ravenna from April 14-19, the Mosaico d’Europa Film Fest – promoted by the City Film Office, the Province and FICE, with support from CICAE and the Ministry of Culture – is the youngest of Italian events dedicated to European cinema.

After the first edition, held last June, the event’s dates are being bumped up and wil overlap (during the busy April calendar) with those of the Lecce, Viareggio and Salerno festivals. Ravenna’s organisers assure, however, that their goal is not to steal the most prestigious titles away from the competition. Instead, they want to offer local audiences a showcase of the best of European film, which often struggles to find distribution.

Proof of this lies in the competition titles, which may not always be the most recent productions but have nevertheless never made it to Italian screens, with the (partial) exception of Italian/Dutch film Una ballata bianca by Stefano Odoardi. The film previously made a timid though unsuccessful attempt at a theatrical release despite successful screenings at numerous international festivals.

This small debut film will also be flanked by films from established directors, including Ulrich Seidl’s Import/Export [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Israeli title The Bubble by Eytan Fox.

Just a few months after its triumph at the Bergamo Film Meeting, also screening in Ravenna will be Finnish film A Man's Job [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Aleksi Salmenpera; as well as, among others, Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Serbian title The Trap by Srdan Golubovic, Shane Meadows’ This Is England [+see also:
trailer
film profile], an audience favourite of the first RomeFilmFest.

Films from beyond Europe will be seen in Finestra sul Mondo (“Window on the World”), while the festival is dedicating its Special Event to Jiri Menzel this year. The master Czech filmmaker’s classics Closely Watched Trains and Larks on a String will be presented, alongside his latest, I Served the King of England [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], soon to be released in Italy as well.

Other tributes are dedicated to film pioneer Alice Guy Blaché, on the 40th anniversary of his death, and to Pier Paolo Pasolini. The latter will be honoured with a selection of shorts, documentaries and features, including the posthumous Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, which will close the festival.

(Translated from Italian)