07/11/2023 - The European Film Festival is returning to the Italian city between 11 and 18 November with 10 international films battling it out for the Golden Olive

Shoshana [+see also:
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film profile], the new political thriller set in the Thirties and directed by Michael Winterbottom, is set to open the 24th edition of the European Film Festival, which is unspooling in Lecce between 11 and 18 November. Jostling in the line-up of this traditional, annual gathering dedicated to European film, overseen as ever by Alberto La Monica in the Salentine capital, are ten films screening in national premieres and competing for the Golden Olive - Cristina Soldano Prize, not to mention the Cinema & Reality section which showcases a selection of Italian documentaries, the Mario Verdone Prize awarded to a new, young Italian filmmaker, and a line-up dedicated to the finalists of the European Parliament’s Lux Audience Award.

The 10 feature films set to battle it out in the official competition and selected by Alberto and Luigi La Monica are: Copenhagen Does Not Exist [+see also:
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interview: Martin Skovbjerg
film profile] by Martin Skovbjerg, Dead Girls Dancing [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Katarina Stark
film profile] by Anna Roller, I Don’t Love You Anymore [+see also:
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film profile] by Zdeněk Jiráský, Légua [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Filipa Reis, João Miller Gu…
film profile] by Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra, Medium [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Christina Ioakeimidi
film profile] by Christina Ioakeimidi, Midwives [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Léa Fehner
film profile] by Léa Fehner, Remember To Blink [+see also:
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interview: Austėja Urbaitė
film profile] by Austėja Urbaitė, Solitude [+see also:
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interview: Ninna Pálmadóttir
film profile] by Ninna Pálmadóttir, Vasil [+see also:
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interview: Avelina Prat
film profile] by Avelina Prat, and Woman On The Roof [+see also:
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interview: Anna Jadowska
film profile] by Anna Jadowska. The films will be assessed by a jury led by Bulgarian producer Stefan Kitanov and further composed of Albanian director Gentian Koçi, Italian director Wilma Labate, Slovenian producer Ales Pavlin, and Italian producer Angela Prudenzi.

The European Film Festival will also present 6 titles soon to be released in Italian cinemas, namely Giorni felici by Simone Petralia, 8 Days in August [+see also:
film review
interview: Samuel Perriard
film profile] by Samuel Perriard, Improvvisamente a Natale mi sposo by Francesco Patierno, I limoni d’inverno by Caterina Carone, and Toni [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Nathan Ambrosioni.

Worth a mention in the Cinema & Reality section, meanwhile, is the first ever premiere of After the Bridge, directed by Davide Rizzo and Marzia Toscano, which tells the tale of an Italian woman who converted to Islam and whose life was subsequently devastated by the death of her son who belonged to the Jihadi group which killed eight people in the London Bridge area. There’s also Le Spose di BB by Stelvio Attanasi, an investigative film whose protagonists are all men, which is aimed at fighting gender-based violence and in which testimonies are gathered from a handful of participants in workshops aimed at combatting violence against women.

The directors in the running for the 14th Mario Verdone Prize are Carolina Cavalli by way of Amanda [+see also:
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interview: Benedetta Porcaroli
film profile], Davide Gentile via My Summer with the Shark [+see also:
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film profile], Giacomo Abbruzzese with Disco Boy [+see also:
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interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile], Niccolò Falsetti with Margins [+see also:
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interview: Niccolò Falsetti
film profile] and Pilar Fogliati with Romantic Girls [+see also:
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making of
film profile]. This year’s Star of Italian Cinema is Micaela Ramazzotti, who’s the focus of a retrospective featuring five of the films she’s starred in, as well as her directorial debut Felicità [+see also:
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trailer
film profile].

Two tributes are also set to be paid: one to Gianni Minà, with the presentation of Loredana Macchietti Minà’s docufilm Gianni Minà - Una vita da giornalista, and the other to the director who recently passed away Nico Cirasola, by way of a retrospective of his 6 feature films (Odore di Pioggia, Da do da, Albania Blues, Bell’Epoker, Focaccia Blues [+see also:
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film profile] and Rudy Valentino [+see also:
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film profile]).

Last but not least, the closing slot of the 24th European Film Festival is entrusted to La chimera [+see also:
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film profile] by Alice Rohrwacher.

(Translated from Italian)