12/01/2015 - The main Italian rendez-vous with Eastern cinema reaches its twenty sixth edition and extends its programme line-up by a day, from 16 to 22 January

The main Italian rendez-vous with Eastern European cinema, the Trieste Film Festival reaches its twenty-sixth edition, and extends its programme line-up by a day, from 16 to 22 January 2015.

The festival, hosted by Annamaria Percavassi and Fabrizio Grosoli, will open with Two Women, by Russian director Vera Glagoleva, a period drama based on the play by Turgenev "A month in the country" and starring English actor Ralph Fiennes (Grand Budapest Hotel [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile]) and French actress Sylvie Testud. Among the festival guests are Krzysztof Zanussi, who will hold a highly anticipated masterclass on 18 January and will in Trieste have the Italian premiere of her latest film, Foreign Body [+see also:
trailer
interview: Krzysztof Zanussi
film profile], a co-production between Poland, Italy and Russia filmed in Ancona, Warsaw and Moscow (read the article).

Three international competitions, which each year focus on the most interesting productions from key countries, will remain at the heart of the festival line-up. In addition, this year the awards for Best Feature, Best Short Film and Best Documentary will be granted by the audience.

Featuring in the international features competition are The Lesson [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile] by Bulgarian directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, awarded in San Sebastian, and Corn Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: George Ovashvili
film profile] by Georgian George Ovashvili, winner of the Grand Prix and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 2014 Karlovy Vary Film Festival and shortlisted for Best Foreign Film at the next Oscars. Viktoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maya Vitkova
film profile] by Maya Vitkova, who's also Bulgarian, was screened at the Sundance Festival.

Barbarians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ikic
film profile], filmed by Serbian Ivan Ikić with non-professional actors earned a special mention at the last Karlovy Vary Film Festival, while The Way Out [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petr Václav
film profile] by Petr Václav is a drama co-produced by Czech Republic and France, screened in the ACID programme of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In the Crosswind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martti Helde
interview: Martti Helde
film profile] by Estonian Martti Helde, was recently screened at the Toronto Film Festival; The Tree [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Slovenian Sonja Prosenc had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Festival;The Reaper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zvonimir Jurić
film profile] by Zvonimir Juric is a Croatian-Slovene co-production screened at the last Toronto Festival. Finally, At Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by Greek director Athanasios Karanikolas, won the Ecumenical Prize at the 2014 Berlinale Forum. The closing film of the festival is Warsaw 44 [+see also:
trailer
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile] by Jan Komasa, the most impressive Polish cinema production of 2014.

New to the 2015 edition is the screening of the LUX Prize films. At the festival it will be possible to view 8 of the 10 films selected by the Prize committee, including Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile], the film that took home the Prize in 2014.

The 2015 edition of WHEN EAST MEETS WEST will see three days dedicated to producers, broadcasters, sales agents, distributors and regional funds from Italy, Eastern Europe and from a single region in focus that's different at each edition. This year the Anglophone countries: UK, Ireland, Canada and USA will have their turn.

(Translated from Italian)