The fourth edition of PLACES OF THE SOUL – Italian Film Festival, which will be held from 10 to 17 June 2023 in Santarcangelo di Romagna, Rimini and Pennabilli, was presented in Rimini.
In introducing the press conference, Andrea Guerra recalled: “We are only two weeks away from the flood and this festival will live off this state of mind, aware of what happened. We will be at the service of the territory for all those aspects that it will be right to point out. I also want to underline that the festival is in collaboration with Ultrasuoni Rimini (9-10-11 June), a great musical and cultural event that wants to remember, with three days of music, Thomas Balsamini, the never forgotten founder and DJ of Slego and Velvet Club”.
Born from an idea and with the Presidency of Andrea Guerra and the Artistic Direction of Steve Della Casa and Paola Poli, the Festival is promoted by the Tonino Guerra Association and highlights the values in which Tonino Guerra believed, between great cinema, poetry and literature. And Andrea Guerra is keen to clarify: “Tonino was a screenwriter, poet, artist, painter. Santarcangelo where he was born, and Pennabilli where he lived, represented a ‘green metropolis’, a place to find new inspiration. A place where he wanted to bring back all the beauty he had seen in the world”.
In the union between the themes Places of the soul and Music, between Cinema and Literature, many protagonists of the artistic scene, not only in Italy, are expected, among others Ferzan Ozpetek, Noemi, Pupi Avati, Luigi Lo Cascio, Riccardo Milani, Carmen Yanez Sepùlveda, Caterina Caselli, Noemi, Omar Pedrini, Tosca, Rossana Luttazzi.
“Places of the soul – underline the artistic directors Steve Della Casa and Paola Poli – are the paths that cinema suggests to each of us. This year’s review will have a particular focus on the musical universe. As is well known, the cinematographic and musical experience have been integrated since the dawn of the history of cinema, and offer those perceptive sensations that characterize the cinema that we like and that we want to promote”.
There will be 5 titles competing for the prizes of the First and Second Feature Film Competition, judged by the Jury chaired by the journalist and screenwriter Andrea Purgatori with the directors and screenwriters Elisa Amoruso and Francesca Comencini: Romantiche by Pilar Fogliati, I live elsewhere by Giuseppe Battiston, Piano piano by Nicola Prosatore, Margins by Niccolò Falsetti, September by Giulia Steigerwalt.
The students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Urbino together with the members of The actor’s suitcase, cinema and theater center of Santarcangelo di Romagna and the spectators who will view them at the Tonino Guerra Museum Il Mondo, will instead choose the winners of the Short Film Competition led by the Jury President Professor Raffaele Milan.
In addition to the feature films and shorts in competition, the rich program includes 6 Special Screenings (Mixed by Erry by Sydney Sibilia, Brado by Kim Rossi Stuart, The eight mountains by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, Nostalgia by Mario Martone, Thanks guys by Riccardo Milani , Il posto dell’anima by R. Milani) and 4 films in the international section: Earth and Dust by Li Ruijun, Godland by Hlynur Palmason, The Snow Panther by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier, Travel Time by Andrej Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra.
Truly special moments can be expected in the evenings at the Arena Sferisterio in Santarcangelo di Romagna under the banner of screenings, interviews, awards and live concerts. In the grand finale on Saturday 17 June, after the awarding of the awards, Tosca will take the stage with his band.
Finally, a closer look is given to the ER (Emilia Romagna) selection dedicated to local cinema financed by the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission. There are 4 feature films (Evelyne in the clouds by Anna Di Francisca, Acqua e Anice by Corrado Ceron, Redemption by Maria Martinelli, Amusia by Marescotti Ruspoli) and 2 shorts (Miya and Jin by Gian Marco Pezzoli, In famiglia by Giorgio Rights).
The afternoon appointments held in the courtyard of the Fellini Museum in Rimini host authors of recent editorial or record monographs. There will be Carmen Yanez, Massimo Vigliar, Luigi Lo Cascio, Rossana Luttazzi, Omar Pedrini, Vince Tempera.
“Never before has ‘Places of the soul’ taken on such a profound meaning and closely linked to the teachings that Tonino Guerra shared with us throughout his life”, declares the Mayor of Santarcangelo, Alice Parma. “Faced with the drama of the flooded Romagna, which hit the lands to which the Maestro dedicated his affection and his art for years, we must take the opportunity that the festival offers us to reflect on our relationship with nature and the ‘environment, on climate change and on the other issues Tonino has invited us to pay attention to, from the ‘Seven messages to the mayor of my town’ onwards”.
The Mayor of Rimini Jamil Sadegholvaad underlines: “Cinema and poetry: Tonino Guerra is the world summit of this union. If even today, in many parts of the world, there is a cinema that innervates lyrical, universal content, it is due to that heritage, to the references to that creative universe constantly fueled by music as well. For our land, which is the land of Guerra and Fellini, the place of the soul is also that dark space, where we are alone and many at the same time and where for two hours we look at the screen like a mirror to find who we really are. we are, beyond the everyday”.
The words of Giuliana Lucarini Deputy Mayor of Pennabilli are added for the occasion: “Never before in these difficult days has attention to the territory and sensitivity to the environment prove to be indispensable. Founding principles that have always been founding principles of Guerra di which Pennabilli is the supreme testimony. We are happy to host the Short Films sections and the International Review of the Festival. Here, in the Places of the great Poet’s soul.”
And speaking of Places of the Soul, Fabio Abagnato, head of the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission says: “A festival with broad views, like the landscape it wants to tell and protect, a proposal that enriches the offer for the public through works and protagonists of film culture. Different formats of authorship and variegated experiences, and among these, a welcome attention to the results of the constant and always stimulating work of our regional Film Commission, which in recent years is allowing a rebirth of regional production and a surprising attractiveness of films and series in Emilia-Romagna, which makes our cinematography and our lands known through the numerous international festivals. In these dramatic days there is a need for a place to rest the soul, and cinema knows how to dream, build and offer it to everyone”.
The proximity to the Festival is well expressed by Romagna Iniziative, a consortium that brings together important entrepreneurial realities in the Romagna area: “Supporting the world of culture has always been part of the mission of the Consortium, especially in consideration of the events that have affected our region in recent days , enhancing and promoting places of culture becomes a priority. Doing it with a project like the Places of the Soul Festival is fundamental”.