08/02/2024 - Unspooling 16 – 23 March, the 15th edition of the Bari International Film&Tv Festival will also award a prize to Matteo Garrone

Director Marco Bellocchio (© Anna Camerlingo)

Upwards of 130 events across an 8-day period, including screenings, masterclasses, meetings, conferences and a tribute to Marco Bellocchio, and 18 foreign films hailing from fifteen or so countries from around the world, plus another dozen films produced in Italy, are on the agenda at the 15th edition of Bif&st – the Bari International Film&Tv Festival, which is scheduled to unspool in the Apulian capital between 16 and 24 March in the Petruzzelli, Piccinni, Kursaal and Margherita theatres.

As ever, the Teatro Petruzzelli will play host to the 8 films gracing the non-competitive International Premieres section, all of which (bar one) will be screening in Italian premieres. Besides the festival’s opening film, May December by Todd Haynes, which stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, Bari audiences will also get to see French-Spanish-Chilean title The Movie Teller [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lone Scherfig
film profile] by Danish director Lone Scherfig and starring Bérénice Bejo, Antonio de la Torre and Daniel Brühl; Another End [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piero Messina
film profile] by Piero Messina, which is competing at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival and stars Gael García Bernal and Bérénice Bejo once again; and Edge of the Blade [+see also:
film review
interview: Vincent Perez
film profile], directed by Swiss actor-director Vincent Perez, who’ll also be delivering a masterclass during the festival. There’s also The Great Escaper [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Brit Oliver Parker, starring Michael Caine, and Margherita Vicario’s directorial debut Gloria! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Margherita Vicario
film profile], which is the second Italian movie selected to compete in the Berlinale this year. Another two titles destined for this section are set to be announced at a later date.

The 12 films selected for the competitive International Panorama section are also scheduled to screen in Italian premieres, following which the jury composed of critics Maurizio Porro (president), Fabio Ferzetti and Federico Pontiggia, producer Elisabetta Olmi and actress Iris Peynado will hand out trophies for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor. The titles in this line-up are All Your Faces [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Jeanne Herry, Back to Alexandria by Tamer Ruggli, Gondola [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Veit Helmer, Over the Cracks [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Camille Japy, The Quiet Maid [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Faus
film profile] by Miguel Faus, Body Odyssey [+see also:
film review
interview: Grazia Tricarico
film profile] by Grazia Tricarico, Natasha’s Dance [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Jos Stelling, Baltimore [+see also:
interview: Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor
film profile] by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, Stella. A Life [+see also:
film review
interview: Kilian Riedhof
film profile] by Kilian Riedhof, La tartaruga by Fabrizio Nardocci and El salto by Benito Zambrano. Karl R. Hearne’s Canadian movie The G, which is the only non-European title on the agenda, is set to round off the section.

ItaliaFilmFest/The Best of the Year will be hosting screenings of films which have already been singled out by the critics’ jury at Bif&st and whose awards are due to be handed out during evening awards ceremonies, namely Felicità [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Micaela Ramazzotti (for which Sergio Rubini was crowned Best Supporting Actor and which claimed Best Cinematography), Io capitano [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Matteo Garrone (winning Best Director and Best Music, while Garrone will also receive the Fellini Award for Cinematic Excellence), There Is Still Tomorrow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Paola Cortellesi (scooping Best New Director, Best Producer and Best Costumes), Lubo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giorgio Diritti
interview: Giorgio Diritti
interview: Valentina Bellè
film profile] by Giorgio Diritti (Best Screenplay), Kidnapped [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Marco Bellocchio (Best Editing), A Brighter Tomorrow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Nanni Moretti (for which Barbora Bobulova was named Best Supporting Actress), Mi fanno male i capelli [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Roberta Torre (with Alba Rohrwacher crowned Best Actress) and The Commander [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Edoardo De Angelis (which earned Pierfrancesco Favino the title of Best Actor).

Last but not least, ItaliaFilmFest/New Italian Cinema is set to present 8 Italian films in world premieres (including Zamora [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Neri Marcorè and La casa di Ninetta by Lina Sastri), which will then be judged by a jury composed of 24 viewers and presided over by producer Donatella Palermo, while the 9 documentaries screening in world premieres will make up the non-competitive ItaliaFilmFest/DocIn section (which includes E tu slegalo by Maurizio Sciarra, revolving around Franco Basaglia). Meanwhile, 16 of Marco Bellocchio’s movies, as chosen by the director himself, are set to be screened at a rate of two per day, as part of the tribute to the Italian filmmaker.

(Translated from Italian)