At a time when a number of very real wars are flaring up and devastating too many regions of the world, today marks the first day of the 12th War on Screen gathering (unspooling 7 – 13 October), which is the only film festival wholly dedicated to providing a space to reflect upon conflict and its consequences. The event will feature Costa-Gavras (who’ll be delivering a masterclass) as its guest of honour and will present a hundred or so movies in the Châlons-en-Champagne showcase, including opening film The Flood [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Gianluca Jodice
scheda film] by Italy’s Gianluca Jodice (unveiled in Locarno’s Piazza Grande) and Michel Hazanavicus Cannes competitor The Most Precious of Cargoes [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Michel Hazanavicius
scheda film] occupying the festival’s closing slot.

Ten feature films are set to battle it out in competition, of which six are works of fiction, including French-German-Belgian co-production Rabia [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Mareike Engelhardt
scheda film] by Mareike Engelhardt (recently awarded the Ornano-Valenti Prize in Deauville), From Hilde, With Love [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Andreas Dresen
scheda film] by Germany’s Andreas Dresen (unveiled in competition at the Berlinale), The Fourth Wall [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: David Oelhoffen
scheda film] by French director David Oelhoeffen, Mexico 86 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: César Díaz
scheda film] by Belgian-Guatemalan Cesar Diaz (screened in Locarno’s Piazza Grande) and two titles well-received in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section: The Damned [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Italy’s Roberto Minervini (who scooped the Best Director prize) and the majority European production The Village Next to Paradise [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Somalia’s Mo Harawe. Added to these are four documentaries: the German-American movie Hollywoodgate [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ibrahim Nash’at
scheda film] by Egypt’s Ibrahim Nash’at (presented out of competition in Venice), Intercepted [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Ukraine’s Oksana Karpovych (discovered in the Berlinale Forum), Journey Into Gaza by Italian-French director Piero Usberti, and French animated title Le Parfum d’Irak by Feurat Alami and Léonard Cohen.

Worth a mention in the Perspectives section are the Cannes attractions The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Directors Talks @ European…
intervista: Mohammad Rasoulof
scheda film] by Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof, Limonov: The Ballad [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, Ghost Trail [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jonathan Millet
intervista: Pauline Seigland
scheda film] by French director Jonathan Millet, In His Own Image [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Thierry de Peretti
scheda film] by fellow Frenchman Thierry de Peretti, and Meeting With Pol Pot [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by French-Cambodian director Rithy Panh, not to mention the documentaries Bye Bye Tibériade [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Lina Soualem
scheda film] by French-Algerian filmmaker Lina Soualem and Voyage Along the War [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Antonin Peretjatko
scheda film] by France’s Antonin Peretjako, among other works.

The jam-packed War on Screen agenda also includes a modest retrospective entitled "War through the eyes of… Frederick Wiseman", as well as special screenings of the immersive fiction film Champ de bataille, directed by François Vautier (who’ll also be delivering a masterclass on “How to film war in Virtual Reality") and the first two episodes of season 2 of Jean-Philippe Amar’s Sentinelles series.

The remainder of the festival’s copious line-up falls under a variety of sections by the names of "Rock N’War/Art N’War" (featuring the documentaries Dahomey [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, Ernest Cole, Lost and Found [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Haiti’s Raoul Peck and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Johan Grimonprez
scheda film] by Belgium’s Johan Grimonprez), "Shared Memories", "Space Conquest: between progress and propaganda",  "80th Anniversary of the Liberation",  "30 Years Since the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda" and "Natural Environment, Paradoxes and Emergencies #3 - the neo-detective movie has returned: water and corruption".