12/09/2003 - Gente di Roma will be opening the 20th edition of the oldest festival of European cinema. The 12 films in competition and 7 world premieres, give a clear signal: the old continent is alive and kicking, but it needs higher visibility

It’s the oldest and most prestigious festival of European cinema and Federico Fellini was its founding father: EuropaCinema. In 1989 the event moved away from Fellini’s home town of Rimini to its new location in Viareggio, and it is now celebrating its 20th birthday. And in keeping with its tradition, European films will be put in the spotlight during this year’s event from September 20 – 27. There are 12 works in competition, there will be 7 world premieres, 6 of which are first works. The maestro Ettore Scola and his new film Gente di Roma - starring Stefania Sandrelli, Valerio Mastandrea and Sabrina Impacciatore – will have the honour of opening the festival, while Joel Schumacher, the American director who has a strong European culture, will close the Festival with his film Veronica Guerin, an American production, but which is set in Ireland.

There are 3 Italian films in competition, 2 works each for Britain, France and Sweden, one from the former Yugoslavia, competing against an Hungarian co-production, one between France and Burkina Faso, and another between Belgium and Holland (read the programme). With this selection the organisers are giving a loud and clear message: the cinema of the old continent is alive and kicking, but it has to have a greater visibility. "European cinema is an illegal immigrant in its own homeland" – explained Luciana Castellina, the president of the festival - "the circulation of films is extremely scanty. No one sees films from their near neighbours, they are limited to watching Hollywood films or productions from their home market. And with the upcoming EU enlargement to include countries from Eastern Europe, who have always been entirely dependent on American products, the statistics are destined to get worse ".

This is a trend that the festival director, Felice Laudadio, also wants to fight against, stressing that this event has an extremely rich programme above and beyond the competition: there’s a competitive section for European documentaries, a series of special events, including a tribute to Ingmar Bergman with an interview by Gunnar Berghdal, and cinema lessons held by 7 personalities from the European industry, from Luigi Magni to Margarethe von Trotta.

THE FILMS IN COMPETITION

The Lunatics' Song, Csaba Bercki (HU/FR).
Cloud Cuckoo Land, Matt Dickinson (UK).
A Different Way, Christina Olofson (SE).
Jericho Mansions, Alberto Sciamma (UK).
Amorfù, Emanuela Piovano (IT).
Professional, Dusanc Kovacevic (YU).
Dédales, René Manzor (FR).
Evil, Mikael Hafstrom.
Pontormo, Giovanni Fago (IT).
La colere des dieux, Idrissa Quédraogo (FR/BF).
Prendimi e portami via, Tonino Zangardi (IT).
The Emperor's Wife, Julien Vrebos (NL/BE/UK).

(Translated from Italian)