Paul Verhoeven and James Franco at CinemaXXI
- Rome’s International Film Festival has established a new section for experimental films in collaboration with the National Museum of 21st Century Arts
PaulVerhoeven (photo) and James Franco will be guests of honour this year during Rome’s International Film Festival (November 9-17) in the new CinemaXXI section. The section has been created to give space to experimental cinema in all its shapes and forms.
The section was conceived in collaboration with the National Museum of 21st Century Arts. It will be open to influences from all art forms. According to the festival’s new director, Marco Müller, “cinema continues to be a key contemporary language thanks to its exchange with architecture, theatre, dance and music.”
Paul Verhoeven will be in Rome with Steekspel/Tricked, a medium length film made with social network users. The director will take part in a meet and greet with audience members.
James Franco will be coming to Italy’s capital with two pieces of work. The first is Dreams, a short film he directed. The second is a feature length film in competition in which he stars, Tar.
Two collective films will be entering the competition. Centro Histórico by Aki Kaurismaki, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice and Manoel de Oliveira, on the city of Guimarães (read the news story), and Mundo Invisivel/ Invisible Word by Atom Egoyan, Lai's Bodanzky, Jerzy Stuhr, De Oliveira, Marco Bechis, Wim Wenders and Theo Angelopoulos, a Brazilian produced anthem film for the invisibles.
Among competing films will be Goltzius and the Pelican Company by Peter Greenaway, Suspension of Disbelief by Mike Figgis, Bloody Daughter by Stéphanie Argerich (France/Switzerland) and Consequence by the German Thomas Heise. Italians will be represented by Tutto parla di te (in competition) by Alina Marazzi, starring Charlotte Rampling, Il viaggio della signorina Vila by Elisabetta Sgarbi and L'assolutezza del cerchio - Il G.R.A. di Renato Nicolini by documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi. Italian shorts include Pletora. Il dono 3D and Yes Sir, I Can Boogie by Zapruder, an art house film venture from Emilia-Romagna which is also behind the festival’s theme song
The international jury, presided over by Scottish actor Douglas Gordon, will be composed of Hans Hurch, Ed Lachman, Andrea Lissoni and Emily Jacir. It will be responsible for choosing the winners for the CinemaXXI Award, the Special Jury Prize (feature length films only) and the CinemaXXI short and medium length film Award.
(Translated from Italian)
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