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There are all the conditions for Messina to return to being a crossroads of great world cinema in the footsteps of the International Film Festival, which started in 1955 in the historic location of Irrera a Mare and continued until 1998, taking on the name “International Film Festival of Messina and Taormina” in 1959.
An interruption in 1968, the year in which, under the pressure of the student movement, the event was renamed New Film Week, taking place in the cinemas and gardens of the Corallo and Trinacria cinemas. Today we are trying to give back to the city an important piece of its identity history with a new edition which from 26 July to 1 August, between the Parco in Fiera and the Apollo Multiplex, will host the great auteur cinema under the artistic direction of the Messina director Francesco Cannavà, creator of the project.
«I grew up listening to the history of the Rassegna from my grandparents and I fell in love with it – he declared yesterday at the press conference -. I felt the need to bring it back to life 71 years after its foundation and 28 years since the last edition, because it was a duty to restore this history of identity to the city.”
No nostalgia, but the aim of taking on the value of the historic event and looking to the future for the journalist Franco Cicero, president of the scientific committee, who also underlined the solid foundations of the new event from a historiographical point of view, curated by prof. Nino Genovese, and the full sharing of Cannavà’s objective of a festival as a celebration that shows Messina and its cultural and cinematographic protagonists through films.
Space therefore for Messina’s excellence, including consolidated professionals and new recruits, starting with the guests: the actors Ninni Bruschetta – protagonist of a masterclass and a screening of his directorial film “La prova” (2017) – Maurizio Marchetti, Giuseppe De Domenico and the set designer Marco Dentici, of Galati Marina, winner of a David di Donatello and two Silver Ribbons.
The program is rich with the themes of love and the sea at the center of the works selected for the international feature film competition and the Italian short film competition (all evenings with free admission upon reservation on the website www.rassegname.it), which will be accompanied by master classes and special screenings. The opening has already been announced with the out-of-competition preview of «Good Boy», the new film by Oscar-nominated director Jan Komasa, and the tribute to Ninni Panzera, historic general secretary of Taormina Arte and creator of the Messina Opera Film Festival. Having passed away on 11 July, he will be remembered by the Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, his great friend, to whom Panzera had dedicated a documentation center in Messina.
Cinema and social commitment with a selection of Palestinian shorts created with the Nazra Palestine Short Film Festival. Special event out of competition «Rossellini. More than a life”, documentary by Ilaria De Laurentis, Andrea Paolo Massara and Raffaele Brunetti. Training and culture with the «TV Series. From idea to industry» masterclasses, with the screenwriter and director Antonio Le Fosse. Among the special guests also the director Roberta Torre.
Supported by the Municipality of Messina, the Messina Foundation for Culture and the Strait Port System Authority, the event is promoted by 8 Road Film and the ARB Cultural Association with UniMe Dams, UniversoMe, Colapesce Studio, Agenzia Pvk and Circolo della Borsa.
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