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BIOGRAFILM 2020

Biografilm moves online and unveils its 16th edition line-up

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- As planned, the Bologna-based festival dedicated to the best in the biopic genre will unfold between 5- 15 June, helmed for the first time by Leena Pasanen

Biografilm moves online and unveils its 16th edition line-up
Because of My Body by Francesco Cannavà

Forty-three films hailing from 26 countries will be screened within the 16th edition of Bologna’s Biografilm Festival, which is set to unfold online this year and will also see Finland’s Leena Pasanen, the former artistic director of DOK Leipzig, at the wheel of the event for the very first time. The festival will unspool as planned between 5 – 15 June and will open with Faith [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentina Pedicini
film profile
]
by Valentina Pedicini.

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“It’s a great thrill to present the Biografilm audience with works by some of the great masters and by renowned and multi-award-winning talent, but also to home in on a number of first works, which account for no less than 45% of films across the two competitions”, Pasanen affirms. “I’m especially proud to be able to make room for a form of cinema which is increasingly led by women, in terms of direction but also with regard to production and all the other roles involved. If we look at the films in competition, the percentage of female directors is as high as 45%”.

Standing out among the different titles programmed in the various sections (International Competition, Biografilm Italy, Biografilm Art & Music, Contemporary Lives), we find Because of My Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Italy) by Francesco Cannavà, which follows in the footsteps of Claudia, a twenty-year-old with a serious motor disability, who finally gets to explore sexual pleasure thanks to Marco, a “love giver” who helps her in a journey clearly fraught with emotional and relational strife, and Half Dream [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Germany) by Dandan Liu, a documentary enjoying its international premiere and focusing on three Chinese, former art students and the profound need they feel to express themselves at a time of economic and social upheaval. Likewise featuring on the list of international premieres are Abbas by Abbas by Kamy Pakdel (France) and Being Eriko [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Jannik Splidsboel (Denmark/Norway), while world premieres worth a mention include All Together [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Marco Simon Puccioni, Our Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Pierfrancesco Li Donni, Gli anni che cantano by Filippo Vendemmiati and We Were Not Born Refugees [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Claudio Zulian (Spain). Films as yet unseen in Italy which are set to be screened in the festival include Barzakh [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Alejandro Salgado, The Earth is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile
]
by Irina Tsilyk, It Takes a Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Susanne Kovács
film profile
]
by Susanne Kovács, Wake Up on Mars [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Gjinovci
film profile
]
by Dea Gjinovci, Self Portrait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin and Espen Wallin and Merry Christmas, Yiwu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mladen Kovačević
film profile
]
by Mladen Kovačević.

All the selected films will be available, free of charge, to viewers in Italy via the MyMovies platform, screening in their original language with Italian subtitles. In addition to movie projections, the festival will include video interviews with the films’ authors, starting with the directors forming part of this year’s new section, Meet the Masters: the chosen titles for this line-up are I Walk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jørgen Leth
film profile
]
by Jørgen Leth, Irradiated [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rithy Panh
film profile
]
by Rithy Panh and Master Cheng [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Mika Kaurismäki.

“My first edition as director won’t be as I imagined it”, confirms Pasanen, “but I’m convinced that it will be an excellent festival, nonetheless, and our online film offering will become a permanent feature which we will carry forward in future editions”.

For the full list of titles set to showcase in the online Biografilm Festival 2020, click here.

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(Translated from Italian)

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