THE CINEMA focuses its spotlight on the stories of those who face cancer and rewards those who have always been committed to improving the lives of patients. The Magna Graecia Film Festival of Catanzaro directed by Gianvito Casadontein fact, it assigns four awards to those dedicated to the fight against cancer, including the institutional leaders of Italian oncology.
The prizes will go to the Pancrazio Association for the making of the short film ‘You like me‘, freely inspired by the story of a boy who at 17 is facing a tumor; to Francesco Cognetti, president of the Together Against Cancer Foundation; to Giordano Beretta, president of the Italian association of medical oncology (Aiom); to Mauro Boldrini, director of communications at Aiom.
Aiom, even cinema can help fight cancer
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The short “you with me”
The short film “Tu con me” is inspired by the story of Giacomo Perini. Together with him, there is his friend Francesco, co-star. The screenplay is in fact a hymn to the value of friendship as a fundamental support in the face of serious illness. “A story of hope, tenacity, solidarity that can help thousands of other young people who are facing a similar ordeal and who can get out of it thanks to research and innovation, which we wanted to tell through a film”, he underlines Maria Teresa Carpino, author and director of the short together Roberto Orazi. “The Pancrazio Association is made up of young medical students who believe in promoting prevention and in correct lifestyles – adds the president Francesco Bugamelli – but also in solidarity, in friendship, in helping those in need. This award fills us with joy and encourages us to commit ourselves even more in the near future ”.
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Awards for commitment to the fight against cancer
Francesco Cognetti, of Catanzaro origin, will be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award “for the commitment and successes achieved in the fight against cancer”. To Mauro Boldrini “the special award for the dedication and great commitment shown in recent years for correct, rigorous and clear communication on the fight against cancer, from prevention to new therapies, to patients’ rights”. And to Giordano Beretta the award for “the great commitment to enhance and make Italian oncology even stronger at an international level”.
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Italian excellence and the challenge of the pandemic
“Every year in our country 377,000 people are affected by a tumor”, underlines Cognetti: “An army of people who need attention, care, assistance at the highest levels that our country is able to provide. Covid, however, has resulted in the cancellation of millions of screenings essential for early diagnosis, surgery, visits and follow-up. We must now start again to make up for these delays, which have accumulated especially in the South. From this prestigious event we launch an appeal: we must all work together to fill these gaps or we risk finding much more advanced tumors with fewer chances of recovery in the coming months ”.
But another loud request comes from the Magna Grecia Film Festival: “For too many years – underlines Mauro Boldrini – cancer has been assimilated to the term incurable disease. Today this is no longer the case: 54% of people affected by cancer manage to overcome it and return to a normal life, a percentage that is constantly growing. We have to work hard to get this semantic equation canceled. And we must push so that projects like ‘You like me’, so strong and impactful, find more and more space in festivals as important as the Calabrian one, which we thank for the great attention shown towards oncology issues “. Oncology, which represents one of the Italian excellences in the world, concludes Giordano Beretta: “If we compare the survival rates with some countries such as France, Spain and Germany, we can see how they are higher in Italy, where high-level clinicians work in teams dedicated to major neoplasms “.
The ceremony will take place on the evening of Saturday 7 August, the last day of this 8th edition of the Festival. Prizes will be awarded by Piefrancesco Tassone, full professor of Medical Oncology and director of the School of Specialization at the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro.
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