After the sudden death of Ninni Panzera, the Messina International Film Festival has decided to dedicate the opening night, 26 July, to his memory. An authentic pillar of the cultural life of Messina over the last forty years, Panzera has left an indelible mark on the fabric of the community thanks to the foundation of the Cineclub Saletta Milani and the Messina Film Festival, which he had transformed with great success into the Messina Opera Film Festival, acting as a true ambassador of the seventh art.
As part of the reborn Messina Exhibition, it was originally planned that Panzera would receive the “Regina del Peloro” award as a sincere recognition of his career. Unfortunately, fate has rewritten the plans, transforming the award ceremony into a posthumous tribute: the first evening of the International Exhibition will thus become a great collective embrace in his memory. To celebrate it there will also be Giuseppe Tornatore, Oscar-winning director and undisputed master of Italian auteur cinema, a deep personal friend of Ninni Panzera and very attached to the city of Messina which was the only one in all of Italy to give Nuovo Cinema Paradiso an immediate success.
This will open the historic event, founded in 1955, and which, 71 years later, returns to the place where it was born: the renovated and officially inaugurated on July 1st, Parco in Fiera – Agorà dello Stretto.
Thanks to the support of the Municipality of Messina and the Messina Foundation for Culture, a cultural heritage that belongs to its history is returned to the city and relaunches Messina’s vocation as a meeting place between cinema, authors and the public. A tradition that looks to the future, reaffirming Messina’s role as a crossroads of international cultures and cinema.
“Returning the Messina International Film Festival to the city means giving back to the people of Messina an important piece of our cultural identity. It is an event that belongs to the history of the city and which today comes back to life with an eye towards the future, thanks to teamwork that has seen the Municipality, the Messina Foundation for Culture and the realities of the territory share a common objective – declared the Mayor of Messina, Federico Basile – Messina has all the characteristics to return to being a point of reference in the cultural and cinematographic panorama of the Mediterranean”.
Among the oldest Italian film festivals, second only to the Venice International Film Festival and the oldest in Sicily, the Festival inaugurates its new edition also with the presence of the Polish director Jan Komasa, nominated for an Oscar in 2020 with the film Corpus Christi, protagonist of a double appointment. On the afternoon of July 26, at the Cinema Apollo in Messina, he will premiere his latest film Good Boy, co-produced by two legends such as Jerzy Skolimowski and Jeremy Thomas; in the evening he will meet the public of the Exhibition.
«The time is ripe for the city to reclaim its history – explains the artistic director Francesco Cannavà – an invitation addressed to all operators in the sector to network and demonstrate that the Messina community can be a protagonist and ready to collaborate with other regional, national and international realities on a cinematographic level. I thank the Mayor Federico Basile, the Messina Foundation for Culture and the competent councilors for allowing us to regain possession of this beautiful history of identity.»
During the week, from 26 July to 1 August, five feature films will be presented in competition, coming from important national and international festivals, which will be accompanied by a competition dedicated to Italian short films. All the works were selected by the artistic director Francesco Cannavà.
Among the guests of the Festival there will also be the director Roberta Torre, one of the most original and recognized authors of contemporary Italian cinema, who will meet the public as part of the program of meetings dedicated to auteur cinema.
Representing the Messina excellences of the national film industry will be the actor and director Ninni Bruschetta, among the performers most loved by the public, the master of set design Marco Dentici and Giuseppe De Domenico, among the most promising faces of the new generation of Italian cinema.
The exhibition will also dedicate two international focuses. The first will be dedicated to Palestine, through a selection of short films made by Palestinian authors in collaboration with the Nazra Palestine Short Film Festival. The second will be dedicated to Iran, with the involvement of the community of Iranian students present in Messina, promoting an opportunity for discussion and dialogue through the universal language of cinema.
Particular attention will also be paid to young people and the training of students from the Dams of Messina through two masterclasses dedicated to the languages and themes of contemporary cinema. The first, focused on the theme of television series, will feature the screenwriter and director Antonio Le Fosse. The second, dedicated to the relationship between cinema and women’s rights, will bring together the delegate producer of Eagle Pictures, Vanessa Zerda Rueda, the composer and vice-president of the Mujeres nel Cinema collective, Silvia Leonetti, and the Messina cartoonist Lelio Bonaccorso.
The Review makes use of a scientific committee, chaired by the film critic Franco Cicero, with the Cinema historian Nino Genovese, the professor of Cinema at the University of Messina Federico Vitella, the professor of Entertainment Disciplines at the University of Messina Dario Tomasello, the composer and orchestra director Cettina Donato.
The new edition of the Festival is organized by 8 Road Film founded by Renata Giuliano and by the ARB Cultural Association chaired by Davide Liotta who is also the Production Director of the Festival, in synergy with some of the companies operating in the Messina area: UniMe DAMS, UniVersoMe, Colapesce Studio, Agenzia Pvk Produzioni Video and Circolo della Borsa.
Supported by the Municipality of Messina and the Messina Foundation for Culture.
With the collaboration of the Strait Port System Authority.