presents
The very rich schedule of this new n[ever]land-digital paths sixth edition starts with the italian preview of “Stories on Human Rights”, a film on six different themes made by 23 international directors and their short movies
Promoted by Associazione Trio Alma Mahler and directed by Enzo Aronica, with the patronage of Comune di Roma – Counscillorship for Cultural Policies, n[ever]land tradition is to go through new fresh, cross and branched paths which are the ones explored by this last event in Rome, from november 28th till 30th 2008.
Very successful event that has turned out to be an habitual Roman meeting point for experts in this field, journalists, filmmakers, students and fans from all over the world, n[ever]land – digital paths is held at Casa del Cinema in Villa Boghese, after has been hosted in the past at the Multimedia Room of Palazzo delle Esposizioni and at the MACRO - Contemporary Art Museum of Rome. It is the opportunity to take a look at international and italian curiosity and new trends on digital technologies applied to visual arts and communications.
This time, much more than in the past editions, the international meetings are centred on contamination and experimentation about the new frontiers of telling a story through images, the rich and unpredictable land of Digital Screens in its infinitive declension. From this endless place n[ever]land has chosen several previews and international events, workshops, screenings and initiatives that will compose the wide schedule of this sixth edition.
Friday november 28th the Grand Opening will be the italian preview of a unique event for social commitment and artistic value. Stories on Human Rights by Filmmakers, Artists and Writers is a unique cinematographic project promoted by the High Commissioner for the Human Rights, produced by ART for The World (ONG based in Geneva and Milan) and edited by Adelina von Fürstenberg that see the cooperation of famous directors and artists of all over the world that have shoot 23 short movies inspired by the six different themes of the Declaration for the Human Rights (culture, development, dignity and justice, environment, race, sharing).
For the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration For the Human Rights and directly from Tokyo International Film Festival and from London We the Peoples Film Festival, Stories on Human Rights will be shown in a short selection of 11 short movies. The movie, that has been shot in more than twenty nations and several languages, has seen the cooperation of the russian Sergei Bodrov, the chinese Zhang Ke Jia (Venice Gold Lion’s Prize for Still Life), the thai Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the italian Francesco Jodice, author of the shortmovie Water Tale on the environment theme, that will introduce us to the whole initiative.
Three most acclaimed famous directors and three “auteur portrait”: David Lynch, Thomas Vinterberg and Dario Argento will be the protagonists of three special premiere for n[ever]land’s public.
The starter, LYNCH ( one), will be a tribute to the cult cineaste Lynch that explores his private dimension and creative research directed by the mysterious blackANDwhite. The documentary, which is a real rarity for the american director fans, literally chases the artist during the two years of movie INLAND EMPIRE preparation, investigating the charming creative path of one of the undisputed genius of our time and showing how much places and their sensations counts for Lynch’ s poetics and inspiration.
Intense portrait of the danish director (ex Dogma 95) Thomas Vinterberg – author of the pluri-prizewinner Festen and the recent A Man Comes Home, introduced at Cinema Festival of Rome - the documentary Being present (Être Présent) is signed by Lorenza Ceretti and reveals a human experience before the cinematographic one. For three years, the Milanese director, that lives and works in France, has been traveling back and forward Danmark to carry out a very personal work that transfers the immediacy of her encounter with the young and tormented directors.
Last but not the least, the interview-portrait Argento On Argento realized by Vito Zagarrio (Communication and Show Department, University of Study in Rome "Roma Tre") on the master of the thriller Dario Argento: the occasion for this work has been a retrospective exibition dedicated to the director at the 44th New Cinema International Exibition of Pesaro. The movie is a path along his whole filmography which will reveal several secrets and curiosity on his works. Directly from Los Angeles, where has just finished the post-production of his last longes for movie Giallo, Dario Argento will be with us at Casa del Cinema on sunday 30th to meet his pubblic.
Italian cinema will be protagonist at n[ever]land with the roman preview of one feature film and two short movies and with the juicy anticipation of a first work with a very famous cast. Coming from success at the Ibiza International Film Festival, where has won five awards, Sleeping Around by Marco Carniti is a consideration on the contemporary, consumer and merchandised society through love and sex stories that intertwine 10 characters; a bitter comedy where feelings collide with the cruelty of everyday life. First time in Rome, the movie will be introduced at the presence of the director and the protagonist Anna Galiena.
Faces, stories and emotions are the protagonists of Cinzia Mascoli and Maddalena De Panfilis’s projects.
After exploring the music and the word worlds with the first two documentaries Le note necessarie (Necessary notes) and Le parole necessarie (Necessary words) Cinzia Mascoli presents the ideal third part of her trilogy ...E immagini that thinks over images through famous and not famous faces and voices like the actress Alba Rohrwacher, the composers Pivio e Aldo De Scalzi and the comic-strip artist and musician Greg.
Sleepless is Maddalena De Panfilis’ first direction, an hectic and choral comedy that put together four actors from theatrical families - Violante Placido, Valentina Cervi, Pietro Sermonti and Francesco Venditti – to tell a story of ten characters that in 24 hours will reach a turning point in their lives. As an absolute première we’ll see several movie sequences, which at the moment is in a post-production phase, and we’ll have the opportunity to comment upon them with the protagonists.
Then, a very welcome return: the two filmakers Fabio & Fabio. Last year Fabio Resinaro e Fabio Guaglione introduced The Silver Rope, this year they come back with science fiction and the short movie Afterville (they’ll show the making of too), a two characters story the day before the end of the world in a visionary Turin. Rich of visual effects as always, this time Fabio & Fabio’s movie – several prestigious international festival awards winner – has a very special guest: Bruce Sterling (the writer considered, along with William Gibson, the cyberpunk father) that has written and performed the scientist role.
To close the made in Italy section three other short movies: from the New York Independent Features Film Festival (Audience Choice Best Short award winner), Tutto come prima (Everything like before) by Federico Pacifici, which is a bitter reflection on betrayals, deceptions and “skeletons in the cupboard” revealed to a young director, busy with a documentary on erotism, omosexuality and prostitution, by an old notary; The Drop by Chiara Carmeni and Marco Castiglione – realized with Arts Faculty, University of Study of Rome “La Sapienza” (“Knowledge and Technics on Digital Show Department”) due to synthetic images (CGI) and live-action integration – is an anthropoid robot trip through indifference and the inexorable ending life of things, to the discovery of love; the movie has been shot in Sicily and presented at the Mediterranean Film Festival. Maradona Baby by Nino Sabella (with Ornella Giusto), at last, is the story of a young football player champion that can reach God with the right kick or a perfect dribbling. In the end Schiaffi, a 7 minutes mini-movie produced and scripted by Fausto Brizzi and directed by Claudio Insegno, that ironically faces the world of temporary employment. Giorgia Wurth performes a distinct woman that enters in an office and starts to bit a man sat behind a writing desk.
Special guest of n[ever]land sixt edition will be the director Carlo Lizzani that, togheter with the introduction of his book Il mio lungo viaggio nel secolo breve (My long journey in the short century), will comment on the sequences of the documentary 7 novembre 1943 by Giulio Latini.
The initiative – edited by Francesca Vannucchi for University of Study of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Faculty of Leterature and Philosophy, Corso di Laurea Magistrale in “Information and publishing system” – will see the presence of Raul Mordenti (President of Corso di Laurea Magistrale in “Information and publishing system”) and director Giulio Latini (teacher of Multimedia Communication).
Directly from Los Angeles, for his second visit to n[ever]land, Academy Awards for SpiderMan 2 visual effects Anthony LaMolinara, will offer us the anticipation of his new international and italian projects.
It’s a nice tradition for n[ever]land to give hospitality to Siggraph selection, the most important world event dedicated to digital images and his last Los Angeles edition. Visioni Digitali (Digital Visions) – an MGM Digital Communication project by Maria Grazia Mattei in cooperation with ACM Siggraph – will present the best of Computer Animation Festival showing the most significative sequences of spectacular movies like Spiderman 3, I Am Legend and Oktapodi.
Last edition’s (october 2008) Sitges –International Cinema Festival of Catalonia’s (Spain) works will enrich n[ever]land sixt edition schedule showing the recent proposals of the international panorama. First festival in the world on science fiction, it was born in 1968 and this year is his 41th edition: it’s an open window on the catalonian festival, realized in cooperation with Cyborg Film Festival directed by Luisella Chiribini.
ARCIPELAGO - Shortmovies and New Images International Festival directed by Stefano Martina is an historical guest of n[ever]land which will propose a daily appointment with the retrospective BIT:ALY - 10 years of italian digital short movies. About 40 short movies (fictions, documentaries, videoclips and animations), chosen by ARCIPELAGO as the best italian production seen at the international contest eMovie from 1999 to 2007, is a selection that represents the evolutionary path made by audiovisual language during the last ten years in our country, as well as it took shape in that permanent laboratory called shor tmovie.
Talking about Italy, Roma3 Film Festival - realized in cooperation with Communication and Show Department and DAMS-Arts Music and Show Science and Technologies “Roma3” – will presents to the n[ever]land public a selection of the 2008 4th edition’s winner short movies. We have scheduled Sarajevo Some Other City by Alessandro Chiodo and Bennet Pimpinella (Italy) – that shows Sarajevo, yesterday and today – and Mercancia by Andrea Zambelli (Italy), that shows the production of cocaine paste in Magdalena Medio, telling the difficulties and the life conditions of colombian farmworkers.
Latest news in this sixt edition is the introduction of CANECANE, a company for cinema, television and theatre production and post-producion of audio, video, animation and graphics, pointing at more experimental forms of interactive and multimedia kind of show. Giuseppe Squillaci and Guglielmo Guarnera, digital artists, will present a survey on work in progress and technological secrets of the funny multimedia installation “Air Playing": visitors will be able to “play the air” simply moving, dancing or jumping in front of an interactive videoprojection.
The visual artist Luca Ruzza, creator with Laura Colombo of Open Lab Company, will introduce the Digital Interactive Design related to the performer score. Reserchear for the University of Study of Rome “La Sapienza”, Ruzza will propose a meetings map with groups and emerging authors, all connected with the activity of the Arts and Science Show Department (Pasquale Direse, Pixelorchestra, Evilsound, Aesop Studio). The renewed potenciality for the elaboration of interactive projects offered by 3dmax e Isadora, will be the threads of the presence: new softwares that innests themselves in the dramaturgic process starting right from the formulation of the show.
A real “aesthetics of terror” is the subject of the book presentation Il terrore corre sul video - Estetica della violenza dalle BR ad Al Qaeda (Terror runs on video – Aesthetics of violence from Red Brigates to Al Qaeda) (Rubbettino, 2008) by Christian Uva: a worrying journey that – from kamikaze’s “videotestaments” to september 11th “multivisions” twin towers falling down, to the audiovisual saga of Bin Laden’s messages or to the videoexecutions of hostages scaned by readings of gloomy jihadistic proclamations - reflects on the electronic media more and more frequent use by armed groups of very different background. All elements that press routine on one side and fiction production on the other, made more and more hardened and on a daily base.
