Six fictional works and four documentaries at the Rete degli Spettatori 2017
- The initiative, now in its sixth year, re-launches a selection of quality Italian titles penalised by distribution, to promote and distribute them right across Italy
Young people and film today, between the Internet, video streaming and download platforms on the web. It was with a reflection on the profound changes underway in the screening of films, and the resulting suffering of cinemas, that the Rete degli Spettatori (lit. Viewers’ Network) announced, last Friday in Rome, its programme of activities for 2017, which aims to support the distribution in theatres of quality Italian films.
Like every year, a committee of film critics has put together a shortlist of titles, both fictional and documentary feature films, which the association headed up by director Valerio Jalongo will support over the course of the year in partnership with approximately 160 theatres across Italy: a second chance for independent films that have already been screened in theatres but for no more than a few days, or that have never been released at all.
The line-up for this year’s sixth edition of the Rete degli Spettatori features six fictional films (including five debut pieces) and four documentaries that were screened at Italy’s major film festivals (Turin, Rome, Venice) or released in theatres between June and November 2016 in fewer than 100 copies. The fictional films are: Dead Uncle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Antonio Manzini; Children of the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea De Sica
film profile] by Andrea De Sica; I Was a Dreamer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Borghi
interview: Michele Vannucci
film profile] by Miche Vannucci; Worldly Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Marco Danieli
film profile] by Marco Danieli; The Last Things [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Irene Dionisio and Sun, Heart, Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Daniele Vicari. The documentaries are: A pugni chiusi by Pierpaolo De Sanctis; Assalto al cielo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Francesco Munzi; Liberami [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Federica Di Giacomo; and Naples '44 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Patierno
film profile] by Francesco Patierno.
Furthermore, to get young people interested in film, this year will see the second edition of Fuori Orario, a cycle of screenings of quality films from the present and the past in secondary schools, held in partnership with Surf Film and Minerva Pictures, to get students interested in learning the language of film and about the great masterpieces of the 20th century. The programme of films includes La battaglia di Algeri by Gillo Pontecorvo, Beautiful People [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ivano De Matteo, Alì Blue Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile] and Fiore [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile] by Claudio Giovannesi, and Constitution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Marco Santarelli.
Last but not least, to facilitate the distribution of the selected works and promote their directors on both the Internet and in theatres, there’s the Cinelibrary project: an archive made up of follow-up videos on the films in the selection, which will be shown before the film or on the website with news, trivia, anecdotes, information on filming and interviews with the directors.
La Rete degli Spettatori, which turns six this year with 800 screenings, 500 premieres of first and second works, 14 festivals and events under its belt and 164 partner theatres all over Italy, is an initiative supported by the General Directorate for Cinema of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, SIAE and the Lazio Region.
(Translated from Italian)