The Moviemov Italian Film Festival marks its return this 2021 with a tribute to Pinocchio, a selection of 8 films, and more happening on February 1-6, 2021 at the My Movies virtual movie house.
For its 10th edition, and second to be held online, the festival introduces Moviemov Industry focusing on the business side of film in addition to festival mainstays Moviemov Showcase which is dedicated to the film screenings, and Moviemov for Social Issues which will deal with social issues concerning both Italy and the Philippines.
Actress Sara Serraiocco, who stars in one of films to be shown this year, is this editions’s Guest of Honor aka the Godmother of the festival.
“I’m honored to be the guest of honor of Moviemov, a festival that gives visibility to Italian movies in the Philippines”, declared Sara Serraiocco. “Especially in this difficult time for cinema, with the movie houses still closed.”
One of the main highlights this year is the tribute to Pinocchio, in celebration of its 140th anniversary since the character’s appearance in Carlo Collodi’s children’s novel, initially serialized on the weekly Giornale per i bambini (children’s newspaper), between 1881 and 1882.
Various feature film adaptations, including the 2002 Roberto Benigni starrer, lead the Pinocchio tribute. A masterclass navigating through literature and cinema will also take place organized by the Embassy of Italy in Manila in collaboration with the Philippine-Italian Association and the Ateneo de Naga University Press.
Here are the eight films of the 10th Edition of Moviemov Italian Film Festival.
Non odiare/Thou Shalt Not Hate
Director: Mauro Mancini
Cast: Alessandro Gassmann, Sara Serraiocco, Luka Zunic, Lorenzo Buonora
The son of a Holocaust survivor who lives in Trieste as a surgeon begins to doubt his actions of refusing to help a victim of a traffic accident that he encountered on his way home from work.
Volevo nascondermi/Hidden Away
Director: Giorgio Diritti
Cast: Elio Germano, Leonardo Carrozzo, Oliver Ewy, Gianni Fantoni, Andrea Gherpelli, Orietta Notari, Denis Campitelli, Guglielmo Pagnozzi, Peter Hottinger, Koch Dagny
Antonio is expelled from Switzerland to Italy against his will. For years he lives in poverty in the Po floodplains, but he never gives up his passion for drawing. The story of Antonio Ligabue, a revolutionary loner in modern art.
I predatori/Predators
Director: Pietro Castellitto
Cast: Massimo Popolizio, Manuela Mandracchia, Pietro Castellitto, Giorgio Montanini, Dario Cassini, Anita Caprioli
This is the story of two households that are complete opposites: the Pavone and Vismara families. One bourgeois and intellectual and the other proletarian and Fascist, these apparently contrary family units share the same jungle: Rome. A trivial accident will bring these two poles together. And the madness of a 25-year-old youth will set them on a collision course, discovering the cards to reveal that everyone has a secret and no one is what he or she seems to be – and that we are all predators.
Palazzo di giustizia/Ordinary Justice
Director: Chiara Bellosi
Cast: Daphne Scoccia, Bianca Leonardi, Sarah Short, Nicola Rignanese, Giovanni Anzaldo, Andrea Lattanzi
Two girls wait in front of a closed courtroom door. There’s playful, headstrong Luce, who’s still little and insecure and there’s dismissive Domenica, who’s almost grown-up. Inside, their fathers are seated on opposite sides of the courtroom. The trial is complicated - was it manslaughter or murder? Out in the hallway, the daughters are unsure about what to do.
Padrenostro
Director: Claudio Noce
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Barbara Ronchi, Mattia Garaci, Francesco Gheghi, Antonio Gerardi, Francesco Colella, Anna Maria De Luca, Mario Pupella, Lea Favino, Eleonora De Luca, Simone Chiacchiararelli
Rome, 1976. Valerio (Mattia Garaci) is 10 yo kid with a fervent imagination. His life is turned upside down when he witnesses a terrorist commando attempting his father Alfonso (Pierfrancesco Favino). From that moment, fear and a sense of vulnerability mark the feelings of the whole family. During those dramatic days Valerio meets Christian (Francesco Gheghi), a compelling boy slightly older than him. Lonely, rebellious and cheeky, Christian seems to come from nowhere. That encounter, in a summer full of discoveries, will change their lives forever.
Punta sacra
Director: Francesca Mazzoleni
The last patch of land – the last triangle of habitable space at the mouth of the Tiber. Its inhabitants call it Punta Sacra, Sacred Point. The story stars the very community of Ostia’s Seadrome, with Franca’s all-female family narrating and driving the tales that make up the Punta Sacra documentary. It is a story where realism and projections into the imaginary intertwine, suspended between nostalgia and inescapable pragmatism. Above all, there is the people’s wish not to leave.
Pinocchio
Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Federico Ielapi, Roberto Benigni, Gigi Proietti, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Matilda De Angelis, Alida Baldari Calabria, Alessio Di Domenicantonio, Roberto Perpignani, Davide Marotta
Geppetto, an old woodcarver, receives a piece of wood perfect for his next project: a puppet. But something magical happens – the cheeky puppet begins to talk, and can walk, run and eat like any young boy. Geppetto calls him Pinocchio, and brings him up as his son. But Pinocchio finds it hard to be good. Easily led astray, he tumbles from one misadventure to another as he is tricked, kidnapped and chased by bandits through a fantastical world full of imaginative creatures – from the belly of a giant fish, to the land of toys and the field of miracles. His loyal friend, the Fairy with the Turquoise Hair, tries to make him see that his dream – to be a real boy – can never come true until Pinocchio finally changes his ways.
Il mio corpo
Director: Michele Pennetta
In a deep and abandoned Sicily Oscar, the son of a junk dealer, and Stanley, a young immigrant, live on the margins of society. Oscar and his older brother Roberto work with their father, collecting scrap metal from illegal landfills. Each metal has its own value and the Oscar family survives by transforming other people's waste into a new bargaining chip. It is a grueling job. Oscar and Roberto are linked by a common story but the eldest, committed to excel to survive, escapes the role of ally, leaving Oscar alone. For Stanley the worst seems to be behind him: a small apartment for himself, a twoyear residence permit and a friend with whom to share some food and memories. He could leave Sicily and try his luck in a country that gives him a real chance, but something keeps him in this limbo. A seasonal job takes him to the deep hinterland, in lands of old abandoned mines and pastures. In this forgotten place, between debris and scrap metal, the solitudes of Oscar and Stanley will touch for a brief moment.
The screening of the short film, Princess by Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino, headlines Moviemov for Social segment that serves as a dialogue between Italy and the Philippines. The dialogue will focus on the terrible fire that destroyed the homes of a Filipino community in Rome last August.
New to the festival, Moviemov Industry is an online business section with dedicated screenings and meetings organized with the purpose of promoting audiovisual products through dedicated screenings for buyers, panel discussions and online meetings, among others. This segment is presented in collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines with the support of Ass.For.SEO, and funding by Regione Lazio and MOVIE UP 2020.
Here is the screening schedule of
Moviemov Italian Film Festival 2021. Films can be viewed via the
My Movies portal.
February 1, 2021
11:00 AM Pinocchio Tribute
6:00 PM Volevo Nascondermi
8:00 PM Talk with director and cast
February 2, 2021
11:00 AM Pinocchio Tribute
4:30 PM Punta sacra
6:30 PM Talk with director, Francesca Mazzoleni
7:30 PM Padrenostro
9:00 PM Masterclass with director and cast
February 3, 2021
11:00 AM Pinocchio Tribute
4:30 PM Palazzo di giustizia
6:30 PM Talk with director and cast
9:00 PM Princess
February 4, 2021
11:00 AM Pinocchio Tribute
4:30 PM I predatori
6:30 PM Talk with the cast
February 5, 2021
4:30 PM Pinocchio
6:30 PM Talk with the cast
7:30 PM Non odiare
9:30 PM Masterclass with director and cast
February 6, 2021
4:30 PM Il mio corpo
6:30 PM Talk with the director, Michele Pennetta
7:30 PM Announcement of Winners
Moviemov Italian Film Festival 2021 is produced by Playtown Roma, under the direction of Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli, with the support of the Directorate general for Cinema of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Since 2010, Moviemov has mounted festivals in Bangkok, Hanoi and Manila.
The festival is organized in the Philippines with the support of the Italian Embassy, the collaboration of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Philippine Italian Association, Ateneo de Naga, Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan, De La Salle University Bacolod (Institute of the Moving Image), De La Salle University Manila, College of Saint Benilde School of Arts and Design, University of the Philippines Diliman Film Institute and media partners like CNN Philippines, ANC, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Business and News.
