Programme 8 NOVEMBER
EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL
22ND EDITION
Lecce, 6th – 13th NOVEMBER 2021
Multiplex Cinema Massimo
8TH NOVEMBER PROGRAMME
PREMIERE OF “TOM MEDINA” BY TONY GATLIF
PREMIERE OF “TAMBURREDDHU” BY CLAUDIO “CAVALLO” GIAGNOTTI AND GIGI DE DONNO
TRIBUTE TO ISTVÁN SZABÓ – “MEPHISTO”
TRIBUTE TO GIOVANNA RALLI – “IT’S A HARD LIFE” BY CARLO LIZZANI
GOLDEN OLIVE TREE COMPETITION – “PSYCHOSIS IN STOCKHOLM” BY MARIA BÄCK AND “WHEN I’M DONE DYING” BY NISAN DAG
MARIO VERDONE AWARD – “THE PREDATORS” BY PIETRO CASTELLITTO
RESTORED SCREENING OF “BETWEEN MIRACLES” BY NINO MANFREDI
Third day of the 22nd edition of the European Film Festival directed by Alberto La Monica, with the Italian premiere of Tom Medina directed by Tony Gatlif, attended by leading actor David Murgia.
A juvenile tribunal sends Tom Medina to Camargue, a region in France’s deep south, into the care of Ulysse, a kindhearted man who lives in harmony with nature. Inhabited by visions, fascinated by bulls and horses, Tom becomes an apprentice guardian, under Ulysse’s guidance. He gives up stealing, is hungry for knowledge, and aspires to change. Revolted by the unwavering hostility he faces, Tom continues to battle his destiny.
As the director explained, the film is the closest to his own story of any of his movies, but it’s not autobiographical.
Screening at Multiplex Cinema Massimo, room 1, 8.00 pm, followed by Q&A with leading actor David Murgia.
As part of the Cinema & Reality section, premiere of Tamburreddhu, Resistenza sonora Salentina by Claudio “Cavallo” Giagnotti and Pierluigi de Donno (2020, 52’).
The film tells the story of the “tamburreddhu” (local dialect for “tambourine”), once used among friends with the elderly who told stories and handed down traditional melodies, for some years now the protagonist of events that attract curious tourists together with lifelong enthusiasts. Some of the most important performers of Salento music will participate, with melodies handed down by the original singers recorded in Salento (Alan Lomax, Ernesto De Martino and Diego Carpitella). And then historical sources, archive footage, music video clips.
Screening at Multiplex Cinema Massimo, room 1, 5.30 pm, followed by Q&A with the directors.
As part of the tribute to István Szabó, Protagonist of European Cinema, his masterpiece Mephisto with Klaus Maria Brandauer will be screened in room 2, at 5.00 pm. The film earned the Hungarian director an Oscar in 1982 for Best Foreign Language Film. Based on the novel by Klaus Mann and set in Germany in the 1930s, it’s the story of Gustav Grundgens (in the film Hendrick Höfgen), a theatre actor famous for playing Mephisto in the staging of Faust. Despite his anti-Nazi sentiments, he submits to every compromise in order to continue to be a theatre star and becomes increasingly entangled with the Nazis. His friends want him to leave Germany, but he stays and reaches the highest heights. In real life, indeed, Höfgen is not Mephisto but Faust.
As part of the tribute to Giovanna Ralli, Protagonist of Italian Cinema, It’s a Hard Life by Carlo Lizzani (1964, 100’) will be screened in room 3, at 8.00 pm.
Luciano Bianchi, employed in a chemical company, is fired on the same day that an explosion devastates the town’s mine, killing 43 workers. Determined to take revenge on the ruthless company, Luciano goes to Milan with a plan to blow up the headquarters skyscraper. In the city, however, he meets Anna, a young journalist working for a left-wing newspaper, and falls in love with her.
For the Golden Olive Tree Competition, in room 5 at 5.00 pm, Psychosis in Stockolm by Maria Bäck (Sweden, Denmark 2020, 100’). A mother and daughter are on their way to Stockholm to celebrate the daughter’s 14th birthday. On the train, the mother starts acting weird and the daughter fears that another psychotic episode is about to take possession of her mother. The screening will be followed by an online Q&A with the director.
At 9.00 pm, When I’m Done Dying by Nisan Da? (Turkey, Germany 2020), which takes us into the life of Fehmi, a 19-year-old aspiring rapper from a rough neighbourhood in Istanbul. The boy is approached by a top recording producer and knows this could be his big break… The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director.
One of the finalists for the Mario Verdone Award is The Predators, Pietro Castellitto’s debut film, winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay at the 77th Venice International Film Festival and of the David di Donatello Award 2021 as Best New Director. The film tells the story of two apparently incompatible families: bourgeois and intellectual the former, proletarian and Fascist the latter, sharing the same jungle, Rome. A banal incident will bring the two poles into collision…
The restored version of Between Miracles, Nino Manfredi’s directorial debut (1970, 122’), will have its Apulian premiere. The restoration of the film was carried out in 2021 by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale and Istituto Luce-Cinecittà from the original 35mm picture negative made available by RTI-Mediaset in collaboration with Infinity+. For the soundtrack restoration an optical positive preserved at Cineteca Nazionale has been used as source. Laboratory: Istituto Luce – Cinecittà.
In room 4, at 5.00 pm, as part of the Festival in Corto (Festival in Short) section, the following films will be screened: La porta in faccia by Gianni Ippoliti, Il ritratto and Giallo paglierino by Francesco della Ventura; La terra delle onde by Francesco Lorusso; Padre by Pierluigi Caracciolo and Biagio Mariano; Crisalidi by Ilaria Giangrande; Rosaria by Alessandro Colazzo and Fabio Zullino.
At 9.00 pm, the screening of the EFA Shorts: 12 K. Marx Street by I. Jordania, All Cats are Grey in The Dark by L. Linder, Community Gardens by V. Katkus, Favourites by M. Monk, Flesh by C. Kater, Genius Loci by A. Mérigeau, Memorable by B. Collet.
