08/03/2018 - The gathering is due to take place from 11 to 18 March. Among the guests are the director Francesca Archibugi, actress Lolita Chammah who will present Barrage, and Bulgarian director Adela Peeva

Barrage by Laura Schroeder

"This year more than ever before Sguardi Altrove will be embracing European cinema and female directors, with particular attention paid to the Eastern European films that are still relatively unknown on the international film scene, such as Bulgaria, which was awarded the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival in 2016." The artistic director Patrizia Rappazzo presented the 25^th edition of the festival to the press yesterday, which will be held in Milan, as usual, from 11 to 18 March, at the Spazio Oberdan, with a program that includes 70 films, over 30 Italian titles, international and world premieres and many debut filmsfrom all over the world. "Among the particularities of this edition," added Patrizia Rappazzo, "is the ample space given to debut films and new Italian cinema, while keeping an eye on tradition, with the career award going to the director Francesca Archibugi." Archibugi will also be giving two lectures at the IULM University and the Civic School of Cinema in Milan.

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Opening this year's edition will be Lolita Chammah, sponsor of the inaugural evening, with the film Barrage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Schroeder
film profile] by Laura Schroeder, which focuses on the relationship between a mother and daughter and stars Isabelle Huppert (also Lolita’s mother in real life). In the International Competition dedicated to emerging female directors - which will also include documentaries this year - are two Italian films: L'uomo con la lanterna, the debut film by Francesca Lixi about the Sassari banker Mario Garau who worked for the Italian Bank of China in Shanghai in the 1920s, and Aperti al Pubblicoby Silvia Bellotti about the Istituto Autonomo per le Case Popolari di Napoli (Independent Institute for Social Housing in Naples). Among the other selected titles is the debut film Blessed [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]by Sofia Djama, set in Algeria a few years after the civil war, Pagans, the debut film by Lera Surkova, adapted from a play by Ann Yablonskaya on religious extremism, Singing with Angry Birdby Hyewon Jee, about the dramatic opera singer and Korean choir master Jae-Chang Angry Bird Kim, the film nominated for the LUX 2017 Award, Western [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Dornbach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
film profile] by Valeska Grisebach, which focuses on German workers in the Bulgarian wilderness, The German Neighbour byRosario Cervio and Martín Liji,about thelife led by Adolf Eichmann in Argentina under a false identity, the Turkish film The Nurse by Dilek Çolak, about the political prisoner Kerem and Invisible Battalion by Iryna Tsilyk, Alina Gorlova and Svitlana Lischynska on female soldiers in Ukraine. 

The festival will also dedicate a focus to Bulgarian women's cinematography: in the program is Godless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ralitza Petrova
film profile] by Ralitza Petrova,winner of the Golden Leopard and Leopard for Best Actress at Locarno Festival in 2016, the historical drama Voevoda by Zornitsa Sophia, Divorzio all'albanese by the director Adela Peeva, and The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and his Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iglika Triffonova
film profile] by Iglika Triffonova.

(Translated from Italian)