12 May 2022

Biografilm stands up against the war

The Festival is going to propose several titles that will stimulate a critical look at military conflicts in today's world.

 

Biografilm festivalheld in Bologna from 10th to 20th June and available online on MYmovies from 12th to 22ndof June, deploys the weapons of culture to fight the gun culture. Within this year's sections, a common thread will gather many films (that can be very different from each other as far as budget and origin are concerned) having one common feature: they all condemn military conflicts all around the world. In these times of war, Biografilm decided to include in its program a path named “No War". 

In addition, a Ukrainian production film will take part to the international competition this year. It will be announced at a press conference, and the General Director of Biografilm, Mr Massimo Mezzetti, will ask for a special permit to allow the director and the producer, who are living in Kiev, to travel outside the homeland borders. A letter will be addressed directly to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelens'kyi and his Government. In the letter, Biografilm wants to express solidarity for the grief that Ukrainian men and women are experiencing. The principles underlying the artistic choices of the festival will be reiterated: freedom, peace, social justice and the affirmation of civil rights. 

Here are some of the titles that Biografilm wants to propose as cultural vehicle of peace, against the gun culture.

Mr. Landsbergis by Sergei Loznitsa. It won the IDFA 2021 and is a captivating and detailed history lesson about the disintegration of the Soviet Union focusing on the revolution that led to Lithuanian independence between1989 to 1991. The almost 90-year-old Vytautas Landsbergis is one of the founders of the independence movement at the heart of a radical historical change known as the "Singing Revolution", which was characterized by largely peaceful protests.  The documentary shows Landsbergis's reflections together with archival footage of demonstrations, party congresses and Soviet military actions that prove how patient the would-be-free Lithuanian movement was. 

Everything Will Be Ok by Rith Pan. It won the Silver Bear in Berlin 2022. It imagines what would happen if animals took power: would they have the same hunger for power and the same cruelty as humans, such as to bring the world to the brink of disaster?

The Story Won't Die by David Henry Gerson. It presents Syrian artists from different backgrounds who tell their acts of rebellion against the cruel military regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which will be harshly punished with torture and then exile.

Erasmus in Gaza, by Chiara Avesani and Matteo Delbò, is about an Italian guy who studies to become a surgeon and decides to go on Erasmus in Gaza, where he understands what it means to live in a war zone. The documentary is distributed by Feltrinelli Real Cinema in Italy. 

Eskape, by Near Adel Hay, reconstructs the story of the director's survival, In 1981 in Cambodia, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, when her mother left the devastated country with her in her arms.

Young Plato, by Neasa Nì Chianàìn and Declan McGrath, shows how philosophy can encourage the kids of a Primary School in a popular district in Belfast, to question the mythology of war and violence that are being inculcated by their relatives, peers and friends.

Storia di nessuno,by Costantino Margiotta. It tells the scandalous story of the Italian NGO worker, Giovanni Lo Porto, who was kidnapped by Al Qaeda in January 2012 and killed three years later by an American drone on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The screening will be in collaboration with WeWorld.

Information for subscriptions and accreditation to attend Biografilm Festival 2022 is available at this link.
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