01/10/2008

This is not a good moment for genre cinema, given the recent global economic recession. “However, films for kids are experiencing a positive junction”, says Gianluca Giannelli, director of Alice in the City, the sidebar of the Rome International Film Festival (October 22-31) dedicated to younger audiences. “But not just to them,” he adds, displaying a programme “full of titles that would not have been out of place in the official selection”.

There are numerous examples, beginning with “the world premiere of Lisa Azuelos’ LOL, a Party [the 1980 film that launched Sophie Marceau internationally] 30 years later, in which Marceau must deal with the emotional ups and downs of her adolescent daughter”. As well as Finland’s The Home of the Dark Butterflies [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dome Karukoski, one of the most notable candidates for the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

There are two competitions – one for children under 12, the other for adolescents up to 17 – and Italy is present in both: in the former with Alberto Sironi’s Pinocchio, the film version of a television project co-produced with the UK; and in the latter with a powerful work on civic commitment, Marco Amenta’s La siciliana ribelle, “a film we very much care about,” offers Giannelli, “with an extraordinary performance by Veronica D'Agostino”.

The European titles rounding out the section include French musical comedy Magique! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Philippe Muyl, Kenny Glenaan’s UK film Summer (with Robert Carlyle) and – out of competition, in collaboration with UNICEF – Italian/US film The Three of Ghibet by Amedeo D’Adamo and Nevina Satta.

Also highly anticipated are tributes to the fathers of Italian animation. In collaboration with the Italian Cinematheque of Milan, which has been working for years on preservation and distribution, there will be screenings of several masterpieces by renowned masters Bruno Bozzetto, Nino and Toni Pagot, Emanuele Luzzati and Giulio Gianini. Along with, added the artistic director, “Leo Lionni, a true innovator, five of whose short films we will present in collaboration with the Minimondi Festival of Parma, which will hold a broader retrospective on the filmmaker in February”.

(Translated from Italian)