Cinema: 11th Edition of Ischia Film Festival About to Start

It will be Benoît Jacquot, Director of The Wings of the Dove, Marianne, Sade and Villa Amalia, shot in 2009 in Ischia, who will open the 11th edition of the Ischia Film Festival with the launch of his latest film Farewell, my Queen, starring very beautiful German actress Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds) as Queen Marie Antoinette. On this occasion, the committee will also give the Director the 2013 Ischia Film Award.

The event will take place from 29 June to 6 July 2013, and has been organised by Cultural Association Art Movie and Music thanks to the contribution of Regione Campania. It will include shows, exhibitions and meetings in the Torre Michelangelo that dates back to the VI century and in other historical buildings such as the Baroque Cattedrale dell’Assunta and the Castello Aragonese. Michelangelo Messina, who is the idea creator of the event will be the artistic director.

Regional Minister for Culture Caterina Miraglia explained: “Often cultural tourism is considered a very difficult blend. On the contrary, we have all elements that can result in a success. If Ischia has been able to involve so much cinema stars, it will be the same for us who are the “owners” of this place. The choice for night shows recovers an ancient tradition that belongs to the inner cities, namely the open air cinema. This is an action carried out by the real lovers of their island, with a real emotional ardour”.

There will be an exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the epic drama film Cleopatra directed by Mankiewicz partially shot in the Bay of Ischia Ponte that played Cupid for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. A free app has also been launched to discover the Ischia movie sets; moreover, a movie tour has been organised to present places to tourists that have been locations for movies such as Purple Noon by Clement or The talented Mr Ripley by Minghella.

Actor Jean Sorel, Director Benoit Jacquot and Diva Universal for the TV will be awarded, too. The Honorary President will be Vittorio Storaro, who received three Oscars for the photography, the artistic Director Michelangelo Messina and the Patroness will be Luli Bitri. Anna Karenina and Les Miserables, launched by the Universal as home videos, will be shown in the Piazzale delle Armi of the Aragon Castle. The Jury will select the winners among 90 works, dedicated to the cinema sets.

In this category, there are movies such as: “Night Train to Lisbon” by Danish director Bille August starring Jeremy Irons and the Icelander movie “Ravens, Buttercup and Myrrh” by Eyrún Ósk Jónsdóttir and Helgi Sverrisson.

The movies will be presented by Nordische Filmtage Lubeck artistic director Linde Fröhlich together with producers and directors.

Some Northern Europe movies will bring fresh air to Ischia this year. The Festival will focus on this Northern cinema, in cooperation with the Nordische Filmtage Lubeck that, through some movies coming from Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Lapland, intends to tell about the cultural identity and local characteristics of these countries.

Moreover, for the first time in Italy, Canadian TV author Christopher Moloney will present 21 pictures that will relate about the American cinema sets in the Big Apple.

Through the 'place in location' technique, namely the overlapping of frames from famous movies on real places where they have been shot, they are like a photo journey in a New York where fiction and reality blend. The author himself will open the exhibition on the occasion of the Festival inaugural ceremony.

Moreover, after the trilogy about the sets of the Italian Cinema, Antonio Maraldi is back to Ischia with an exhibition about the sets of the Italian Cinema ‘en plein air’. The location of the volcano Stromboli of Luigi Lo Cascio in La meglio gioventù by Marco Tullio Giordana, the cornfields of Io non ho paura by Gabriele Salvatores, the Low Po Valley by Ligabue for Radiofreccia are only some of the pictures gathered in the exhibition called "The natural scene" that will be shown in the Torre di Michelangelo, a location that dates back to the VI century for cultural events of the Municipality of Ischia.