From 24 to 26 April 2024, thanks to the patronage of the Departments of Culture and Youth Policies of the Municipality and the sponsorship of Cosmobile Srl, the first edition of Storie Infinite Festival was held in Forlì (FC). The event, with free entry, took place in the evocative setting of the Candle Factory and was entirely dedicated to the fantasy genre, declined, as reported in the presentation, “in its subgenres (science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird, gothic …) as well as in its expressive languages (books, films, visual art, board and role-playing games…)”.
In fact, there were numerous dialogues with the authors, presentations of novels, magazines, collections of short stories, as well as the screening of some films; there were also exhibition stands of independent publishing houses or used for board and role-playing games sessions and much more.
Among the films proposed there were great classics such as Night of the Living Dead by G. Romero, Little Shop of Horrors in R. Corman o Plan 9 from outer space (in the original language with Italian subtitles) by E. Wood, alongside new releases such as Headshot by N. Maggi.
The meetings took place over the course of the three days in an almost uninterrupted manner, offering the public interesting and varied insights into the different aspects of fantasy: among others, we remember the presentation of the comic Moon (DZ Comics) by Paolo Orsini, from the anthology Wunderkammer (Ad Astra Edizioni) by Stefano Frigieri, the novel Stars and Brass (Editrice Il Castoro) by Jude Archer, 7K – Seven Keys they Sleep Blithe, Sibylles (Lambda House) by Angelo Berti e The King of All: A Portrait of Stephen King (Salani) by Luca Briasco. The various presentations were attended and moderated by Giordana Gradara, Emanuela Valentini, Lorenzo Crescentini, Leonardo Patrignani, Carlotta Zirondelli, Miller Gorini, Sabrina Grementieri, Antonella De Nisco, Laura Aguzzoni, Giampiero Pizzol, Davide Mastrangelo, Claude Francis Dozière, Pierangelo Garzia, Claudio Vergnani .
The curator and author Maurizio Cometto, with the participation of Alessandro Goffi, also presented the “Frattali” series (presiding over the related pitch), which he deals with for the publishing house Delos Digital, while Giorgio Raffaelli, publisher of Zona 42, presented presided over the pitch of the publishing house. Fabio Mosti instead presented the magazine The imaginative reader and there was also no shortage of playful moments organized by the Matricegiochi Collective or with projects by the children of the 2Q class of the Fulcieri Paolucci de Calboli Scientific High School, with the prototype Uncensored of the Forgia del Dado, winner of the “I don’t turn around” competition.
Storie Infinite Festival thus proved to be a winning event, which already recorded a significant number of attendees in this first edition. Each meeting was excellently organized and conducted, so as to offer the public countless ideas and without ever leaving out spaces and moments of discussion and discovery between speakers and spectators. The general atmosphere of intimacy and closeness with every reality has also contributed in a more than positive way to making the Festival dynamic and interactive, so as to be a fertile and ideal ground for excellent opportunities for literary, cinematographic and cultural exchanges. This first edition therefore lays excellent foundations for future editions: we look forward to finding out what new things 2025 will bring us!
By Caterina Franciosi