N.I.C.E film festival 2005 Recap

This year’s N.I.C.E. festival brought to America some interesting films from a diverse group of first time and second time feature length Italian filmmakers. Each filmmaker had his own distinct filmmaking style. If there was a common thread between the films it can be best said by one of the Chairpersons on the Selection Committee, Deborah Young, that these “films are from impassioned young filmmakers who still believe that cinema is all about emotions.”

Where are all the patrons you ask? Open the doors and you will find them.

Alessandro Tofanelli is a documentary filmmaker whose previous films examined Man’s relationship with Nature. With his first feature length narrative film, Contronatura, he continues to probe that relationship but here it is interwoven with a drama set in the countryside of Pisa. Contronatura is filled with scenic landscapes showing us the beauty of Nature. It is a quiet film with each character representing another part of Nature itself.

If these Walls could Talk.

Danielle Costantini, whose first film, made in 1978, Una Settimana Come Un’Altra won him the David Di Donatello award for best debut feature, comes back with his second film, 14 years later, Fatti Della Banda Della Magliana. This film is based on Costantini’s play of the same name. It was filmed in a real Roman prison with convicted criminals. This film is photographed like a stage theatre: the actors talk into the camera, the camera rarely moves and each scene is an isolated shot.

If these Walls could Talk II.

Luciano Melchionna and is another theatre director, and Gas is his first film based on one of his most popular plays. This film shows the poetics of violence. It is an entertaining Thriller that leads the audience on a ride interacting with numerous characters.

Francesco Munzi graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia school in 1998. Saimir is Munzi’s first feature length film. This is a side of Italy we have never seen – through the eyes of an illegal Albanian immigrant. The story doesn’t dive into another culture looking from the outside; instead, it explores the life of an outsider living within the Italian culture.

David Ballerini, previously had made everything but a feature length film. He first began with shorts, art documentaries, institutions films and commercials. He has also written books on film. With Silence of the Skylark, Ballerini offers a simplistic look at the prison life of Bobby Sands, the Irish poet who died during the 70s. The majority of the film is shot within a prison cell and its surrounding area.

Vittorio Moroni has previously made shorts and documentaries as well. His first film You Must be the Wolf is a dramatic film about the relationship between parents against the relationship with their child. The film opens and closes with a puppet show and the puppets are much like the characters in the film.

Eugenio Cappuccio first was assistant director to Fellini on Ginger and Fred. Since then, he has made a documentary about Fellini and a short film. I Truly Respect You is a special film because of the way it handles its main character Marco Pressi and he strategically fumbles through the many complications that life throws at him.

Frank Ciota is the Italian American filmmaker accepted into this year’s festival. A graduate of NYU. his first film The North End, premiered at the Montreal Film Festival. With Ciao America, Frank walks the thin line between Italian and American sensibilities. With subject matter that can easily be exploited, he stays true to both cultures while offering the audience an emotional story that is both universal and personal.

A little bit of home at the Quad.

I sat down with Viviana Del Bianco, the Director of the N.I.C.E. Festival for an interview.

Justin Ambrosino: How did you arrive at these films?

Viviana Del Bianco: Well recently, for the past five years, distributors and directors send me the films on DVD and on video cassette and we review them. We also look for them at film festivals and cinema events.

JA: What attracts you to these films?

VDB: If you see all of these films in this year’s festival, you can see that there isn’t a certain characteristic I look for. It must have a great story. Each film has its own thing to acknowledge.

JA: Am I wrong to assume that very year you pick a film that is inspired by Pasolini?

VDB: I don’t think about Pasolini when I watch these films. I think the films of today are just as good as the ones in the past. This year maybe two films have some sort of acknowledgement of Pasolini’s work, like Saimir does, but I don’t look for that.

JA: Are you afraid of the image that these films project about Italy to a foreign audience?

VDB: No because this is Italy today.

JA: Do you try to find distribution for the films in America?

VDB: Sometimes, yes.

JA: Why do you think it is so hard to find distribution for Italian films in America?

VDB: Because these films are very independent and the subject matter might be too Italian to be understood by the American culture, but at the same time, it is hard to find distribution for any independent film, even it is an American independent film. Matteo Garrone, the filmmaker highlighted last year at the festival got distribution for The Embalmer and Primo Amore, but that was only after he got recognized. We did a retrospective of his at MoMA too. But his earlier films, which we showcased didn’t get distributed. We try to work with the filmmakers and help them out, build relationships, even in Italy. The hardest thing about a festival like this is that the filmmakers aren’t famous in the US and sometimes not even in Italy.

JA: Why did the Italian American film addition become a part of the N.I.CE. Festival?

VDB: I am interested in whatever is new in cinema, whether it is Italian, American, English, or Japanese. I’m interested in the new generation of filmmakers. The Italian American film also promotes Italy because it is the next generation, the new generation of Italian culture.

JA: Have you already started looking at films for next year and are any of the films definitely going to make it into the Festival?

VDB: Yes, we are looking at films, but we haven’t decided on anything yet because it is five people that select the films.