Ischia Film Festival
Located under the patronage of the President of the Republic, the Ischia Film Festival is the heart of the "Cinema & Territory" project created by Michelangelo Messinafor the Art Movie & Music Association set up as a non-profit organization to pursue the goal of making the general public know audiovisual works, often unpublished, which through the film story and the locations have underlined the cultural identity of a place. Every year the festival rewards those cinematographic works that have brought a promotion of the territory and its cultural identity through film narration. It spreads and promotes "Cineturismo" (neologism devised by Messina) in Italy and in the world and rewards with the Foreign Award the Italian and foreign film productions that have contributed to promoting the Italian territory through the audiovisual sector.
"There are landscapes, whether they are cities, deserted places, landscapes, mountains or coastal stretches that even cry out for a story. They evoke their stories, they create them." (Wim Wenders)
The Festival pursues its mission by supporting conferences, screenings, studies and research on the synergy between audiovisual productions and local authorities, not only for commercial purposes, but above all to safeguard the identity and cultural heritage of a territory. The festival is the only film competition in the world that annually attributes artistic recognition to audiovisual works, directors, directors of photography and scenographers who have best described the area through audiovisuals.
The adhesion in these years to the project of illustrious testimonials including Oscar winners Sir Ken Adam, Vittorio Storaro, Carlo Rambaldi, Alan Lee, Osvaldo Desideri, John Howe, Gabriele Salvatores the directors Mario Monicelli, Peter Greenaway, Abbas Kiarostami, Amos Gitai , John Turturro, Pavel Lounguine, Margarethe von Trotta, Abel Ferrara, Krzysztof Zanussi, Giuliano Montaldo, Carlo Lizzani, Luciano Emmer, Vincenzo Marra, Edoardo Winspeare, Carlo Verdone, Valerio Mastrandrea, Michele Placido, The Manetti Bros. have enriched the festival of precious contents and interesting ideas for dialogue between "cinema and places", emphasizing year after year the originality and importance of a unique festival in the panorama of international cultural events.
The project's activities include the permanent scientific observatory where national and international speakers discuss the phenomenon of Movie induced tourism, the promotion and enhancement of places through film tourism. The cinema has always been a great promoter of the territory often inducing the viewer to visit its places to try again the film emotion.
(Foto © Marco Albanelli - Amici di Gabriele Mattera)
