01/03/2013 - Debut and second films compete in a section dedicated to films which give a lucid representation of European cultural identities

The Bergamo Film Meeting will kick off its 31^st edition on March 9 with a look at the European “building site” on a continent which is still struggling to find its own identity. Careful to remain relevant, the Bergamo FM this year selected films which talk of work, conflicts, and of the “individuals who struggle to find their own place in the world,” to use the organisers’ own words.

The competition, reserved for debut and second films, which as of this year also includes a money prize, is almost exclusively a European affair, with the exception of Israeli Rock the Casbah [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Yariv Horowitz, also shown at the Berlinale. Among those not to be missed are Mobile Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Francois Pirot, Good Luck. And take Care of Each Other [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Swedish Jens Sjogren, Shameless [+see also:
trailer
interview: Filip Marczewski
film profile] by Polish Filip Marcewski and Shifting the Blame [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lars-Gunnar Lotz
film profile] by German Lars-Gunnar Lotz.

Beyond a retrospective on Robert Guédiguian, who will be a guest of the event with his wife and muse Ariane Ascaride, Bergamo will be proposing a Cantiere Europa section with six pieces of work offering a cinematographic perspective on European cultural identity. Selected films are Crulic: The Path to Beyond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anca Damian
film profile] by Anca Damian, Romania/Poland; Iceland: Year Zero by Sigurður Hallmar Magnússon, Iceland/France/Czech Republic; Eat Sleep Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: China Ahlander
interview: Gabriela Pichler
interview: Nermina Lukac
film profile] by Gabriela Pichler, Sweden; Terrados  by Demian Sabini, Spain; L’exercice de l’État [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Schoeller
film profile] by Pierre Schöller, France/Belgium, soon to be distributed in Italy; Unfair World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Filippos Tsitos, Greece/Germany.

While fifteen particularly relevant European documentaries will be shown, Bergamo will also be a platform for a series of shorts from European schools associated with Cilect, the Centre International de Liaisons des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision, curated in collaboration with the Milan-based Fondazione delle scuole Civiche e la Scuola di Cinema e Tv. 

(Translated from Italian)