Castellitto a star of the 13th Lecce Festival of European Cinema

by Vittoria Scarpa

16/03/2012 - "I like fact that the word European is linked to a festival taking place in southern Italy. That is how Sergio Castellitto (photo) alluded to – at the presentation in Rome on March 16 - the 13th edition of the Festival Lecce Festival of European Cinema , which will take place on April 17-21. The popular Roman actor, who is finishing editing his latest work with Penélope Cruz, Venuto al mondo (see the news - the film will be out in cinemas on October 27), will this year be the star of an event showing 17 films, for which he is both actor and director, from Luciano Tovoli’s The General of the Dead Army (1983) to his own Love & Slaps [trailer] (2010).

But apart from this habitual tribute to a star of Italian cinema, the festival directed by Alberto La Monica and Cristina Soldano, which is a real celebration of European and Mediterranean cinema, has a rich and varied programme in store which somewhat embraces all the countries of the Old Continent. Starting with the European Feature Films Competition, with ten films (all in national premiere) shortlisted for nine trophies, including the Cineuropa Award: Spain’s No tengas miedo [trailer, film focus] by Montxo Armendáriz, Sweden’s Happy End [trailer] by Bjorn Runge, Poland’s Fear of Falling by Bartosz Konopka, Norway’s Oslo, August 31st [trailer, film focus] by Joachim Trier, Austria’s Kuma [trailer, film focus] by Umut Dag, Denmark’s Miss Julie [trailer] by Linda Wendel, Russia’s Bedouin by Igor Voloshin, Germany’s Above Us Only Sky [trailer] by Jan Schomburg, Croatia's Daddy by Dalibor Matanic; Italy will be represented by Vacuum by Giorgio Cugno.

Tony Gatlif’s Indignados [trailer] will be screened in national premiere as an Out of Competition Special Event. The winner of the LUX Prize 2011, Robert Guédiguian’s The Snows of Kilimangiaro [trailer, film focus] will also be screened in Lecce, followed by the roundtable on The pluralism of European cinema. The urgency of cross-media as drivers of international governance. The Euromediterranean Cinema section will this year be dedicated to Slovenian cinema.

> The third Mario Verdone Award will finally be given to one of three finalists chosen by the siblings Carlo, Luca and Silvia Verdone, starting from a first selection of 11 films (see the news): Alice Rohrwacher’s Corpo celeste [trailer, film focus], Andrea Segre’s Li [trailer, film focus] and Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio’s Seven Acts of Mercy [trailer].

> To see the full programme, click here.