Il Cinema non va (mai) in vacanza.

Da appassionato di cinema mi chiedo: dopo il ‘film verità’, il ‘film social’, il ‘film attualità’, il ‘film cronaca’, la giovane ‘transavanguardia’ ci ripropone gli stessi schemi polverosi e obsoleti, quando si tornerà al vero cinema?
Da quando il ‘post-modern’ non si occupa più degli esseri umani ma solo di ‘antropici riconoscimenti’, abbiamo visto film ‘brutti, sporchi e cattivi’, nonché ‘arrabbiati, violenti e nauseabondi’, quando si tornerà a un ‘Cinema’ che si riconosca nell’ ‘arte cinematografica’ dove vigevano la creatività, l’investigazione, la bellezza?
Se la 7a Arte ha illustrato e spesso insegnato al mondo intero un certo modo di ‘fare cultura’ come è stato possibile che negli ultimi tempi si è trasformata nella negazione di se stessa?

Mi chiedo, inoltre, quanti di noi escono la sera per andare al cinema? Quanti sono disposti ad annoiarsi terribilmente più di quanto fa la TV? Chi rammenta d’aver atteso per mesi la ‘prima’ di un film e di aver fatto la coda per accedere nella sala gremita e magari trovare solo ‘posti in piedi’?
No, non ci siamo, il Cinema (quello con la C maiuscola) deve assolutamente ritrovare se stesso: che forse un ritorno alla letteratura? Ad una creatività lungimirante? Al piacere ‘sottile’ di ritrovarsi accanto alla compagna/compagno a scambiarsi pareri su una trama, su un sentimento suggestivo dell’ ‘amore’ o che invero esprime ‘bellezza’?

Cerchiamo insieme di ‘spingere’ i nuovi cineasti, visto che i migliori se ne sono andati a miglior vita, si dice così o almeno mi pare, se non a seguire le orme ‘dei grandi’ almeno a rivedere certi aspetti migliorativi dell’attuale condizione umana. Scrivete e inviatemi le vostre piccole/brevi ‘storie di cinema’, all’indirizzo e-mail qui postato giorgio.mancinelli@larecherche.it e ci ritroveremo insieme a parlare di quel cinema che in qualche modo ha segnato ‘i migliori anni della nostra vita’ e di quelli che verranno. Perché, come dice il titolo, il Cinema non va mai in vacanza!

A Bari la 13ma edizione degli Italian Screenings
di Camillo De Marco – per gentile concessione di Cineuropa News

28/06/2016 - Da domani il mercato annuale dedicato alle produzioni italiane, organizzato da Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Attesi 130 operatori da 30 Paesi
Si terrà a Bari, da domani 29 giugno al 3 luglio, la tredicesima edizione degli Italian Screenings organizzati da Istituto Luce Cinecittà, che vedrà manager e buyers internazionali partecipare a uno degli appuntamenti più importanti per gli addetti ai lavori del cinema italiano.
Gli Italian Screenings, infatti, sono l'unico mercato annuale interamente dedicato alle produzioni italiane e in questa edizione si registrano numeri in aumento rispetto agli anni precedenti, a conferma della necessità di una iniziativa per l'internazionalizzazione del cinema italiano: 130 operatori, 30 Paesi rappresentati, 20 film in anteprima mondiale, oltre alle anteprime internazionali, 60 proiezioni.
La scelta di Bari, per il secondo anno consecutivo, come luogo dove creare l'incontro tra i film italiani, i potenziali distributori e i possibili coproduttori è la risposta al lavoro fatto da Regione Puglia e Apulia Film Commission in questi anni, per creare, all'interno della regione, un sistema che supporti e coordini l'intera filiera cinematografica, dall'ideazione alla distribuzione, attraverso scrittura, produzione e promozione. Un esempio virtuoso divenuto fonte di ispirazione per altri settori economici, anche a livello nazionale.

Pesaro tra presente e futuro. Con un po' di porno
di Camillo De Marco – per gentile concessione di Cineuropa News

27/06/2016 - Dal 2 luglio la 52ma Mostra dedica otto giorni alla sperimentazione con una selezione che guarda ai giovani. E con una sezione sul porno al femminile
La 52a Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro (otto giorni - dal 2 al 9 luglio) diretta da Pedro Armocida riparte nel segno del "nuovo cinema". "È il secondo anno della Mostra rinnovata, con una maggiore apertura ai giovani e alla sperimentazione", ha esordito il cofondatore Bruno Torri durante la presentazione alla stampa. Con questo sguardo rivolto agli studenti che, da tutta Italia e sempre più numerosi, affollano i luoghi del festival, la Mostra torna ad essere il luogo privilegiato di formazione dei futuri spettatori, che compongono la giuria, presieduta da Roberto Andò, incaricata di scegliere il film vincitore del Premio Lino Miccichè del Concorso. Ai giovani sono dedicate le due selezioni che più guardano al futuro del cinema, il Concorso (con i film che meglio incarnano l'idea di nuovo cinema, lontano anche dai classici stilemi tipicamente "da festival") e la nuova Satellite - Visioni per il cinema futuro, che punta alla produzione extraindustriale, film a low-budget e difficilmente "catalogabili". "Non sono film da festival", spiega il direttore Armocida, "abbiamo cercato di dare uno sguardo diverso e con un'attenzione particolare al cinema italiano".

Un concorso ricco di sorprese in cui l'Italia sarà rappresentata dal giovane talentuoso Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala con il suo esordio al lungometraggio Per un figlio. Presente in sala anche il produttore Gianluca Arcopinto che promette: "Suranga diventerà un grande regista, è un autore di talento e stiamo già lavorando al prossimo progetto". Tra le produzioni e coproduzioni europee in concorso ci sono anche David di Jan Tesitel (Repubblica Ceca); Les Ogres di Léa Fehner (Francia); Where I Grow Old di Marilia Rocha (Brasile-Portogallo); In the Last Days of the City di Tamer El Said (Egitto-Germania-Regno Unito-Emirati Arabi). Novità della Mostra infine l'evento dedicato a "Le ragazze del porno", all'interno del quale sarà proiettato l'ultimo cortometraggio di Monica Stambrini, Queen Kong, ed accompagnato dalla tavola rotonda Porno al femminile con la rivista «8 e ½» di Gianni Canova.

Marie Barraco • Delegata generale, Série Series
di Fabien Lemercier – per gentile concessione di Cineuropa News

27/06/2016 - Incontro con Marie Barraco, delegata generale di Série Series, evento dedicato esclusivamente alle produzioni europee e ai loro creatori

"Un laboratorio di riflessione e di creazione di un circuito europeo" Dedicato alle serie europee e fondato a Fontainebleau nel 2012, Série Series èun forum di riflessione consacrato alla creazione e un appuntamento imperdibile per chi concepisce le serie: sceneggiatori, registi, compositori, produttori e diffusori. Incontro con Marie Barraco, delegata generale dell’evento la cui 5a edizione si svolgerà dal 29 giugno al 1° luglio 2016.
Cineuropa: Quali sono le tendenze della produzione che metterà in luce questa quinta edizione di Série Series?
Marie Barraco: Un filo rosso è emerso durante il processo di selezione: la responsabilità e il legame tra le serie e la società, il modo realistico con cui le serie europee s’impregnano del mondo in cui viviamo. Così, la serie svedese The Bonus Family parla delle famiglie allargate, la finlandese Downshifters del declassamento sociale, la tedesca Tomorrow I Quit vede uno stampatore colpito dalla crisi che si mette a fabbricare banconote false. Questa evoluzione verso i temi sociali è particolarmente netta nella nostra nuova sezione What’s next? che presenterà progetti in fase iniziale di sviluppo: il franco-tedesco Eden evoca la crisi dei rifugiati, il danese Mayday è un thriller ecologico, ecc. Ci sono anche i temi della ricerca medica, della contraffazione delle medicine. In generale, c’è una tendenza alla diversificazione dei soggetti, anche se ovviamente il "dramma" è un formato che viaggia sempre molto bene.
Tutti i paesi europei si sono lanciati nello sviluppo di un’industria della serialità. Questa crescita improvvisa è davvero un terreno favorevole alla diversità dei temi o si rischia una certa uniformazione?
Il fatto che l’industria si sviluppi risponde innanzitutto a una domanda, perché il pubblico guarda sempre di più le serie e i canali si sono resi conto che per distinguersi, per esistere su un piano editoriale, la fiction è un ottimo supporto. Quindi, questo sviluppo è accompagnato dalla diversità. Ma è vero che i thriller, in particolare nordici, hanno fatto scuola ed è un genere molto presente sulla scena internazionale.
I paesi scandinavi sono difatti onnipresenti nel programma di questa edizione 2016 di Série Series.
In un certo modo, la nostra programmazione riflette il mercato. I nordici e gli inglesi dominano la scena europea. Hanno seguito rapidamente il cammino degli americani che sono i più anziani sul mercato e continuano a condurre le danze in Europa, sono ancora un passo avanti. Tuttavia, anche se sono molto presenti sulla scena internazionale, la loro fiction è lungi dall’essere gigantesca in termini di numero di ore prodotte. La cosa che colpisce è che ogni produzione che lanciano è ammirevole. E hanno veramente messo in atto un modello, specialmente in materia di coproduzioni europee per quanto riguarda i paesi nordici. Ci sono comunque delle evoluzioni, ad esempio con i paesi dell’Est che emergono con una serie ceca come Cosmic o con l’Italia che presenta serie veramente interessanti come Rocco Schiavone.
La frequentazione professionale di Série Series è di alto livello, anche se la manifestazione non è un mercato. Qual è il segreto del vostro successo?
Non siamo un festival con dei premi. La nostra idea è di presentare una fotografia dell’universo delle serie al momento attuale, ma anche quello che si sta facendo e che sarà in onda nel 2017, nel 2018. Vogliamo soprattutto dare ai professionisti delle chiavi. Série Series è un laboratorio di riflessione e di creazione di un circuito europeo. Perché la nostra linea editoriale è molto chiara, strettamente europea, eclettica, con creazioni originali. E secondo il parere comune, l'atmosfera è molto propizia all’incontro e allo scambio.

Dossier: La Commissione Europea finanzia otto progetti di educazione cinematografica
di Simone Moraldi – per gentile concessione di Cineuropa News

28/06/2016 - The eight film literacy projects that have been awarded by Creative Europe’s 2016 “Support to Audience Development” call have been announced:
“European Films for Innovative Audience Development” (applicant: Festival Kinimatografou Thessalonikis Astiki Etairia, Greece):

“Les Petites leçons de cinéma” (applicant: La Lanterne Magique, France)
“The Film Corner. New On and Off Activities for Film Literacy” (applicant: Fondazione Cineteca Italiana, Italy)
“Action!Research: a new European Methodology for Film Literacy” (applicant: Milano Film Network, Italy)
“Moving Cinema. Methodologies, Strategies and Tools for Children and Young People to Appreciate European Films and Become an Active Audience” (applicant: A Bao A Qu Associació, Spain)
“Wrap! Must see European cinema for Young People. YEAR 3 2016-2017” (applicant: Stichting Cinekid Amsterdam, Netherlands)
“CinEd, European Cinema Education for Youth-Step 2” (applicant: Institut Français Epic, France)
“European Film Clubs and Schools Licensing” (applicant: Film Literacy Europe Limited, United Kingdom)
Five of these are new editions of previously financed projects and three of them are new entries. A total funding amount of €1.1 million has been assigned.

Notes on film literacy.
Film literacy is generally meant as part of the wider set of audience development that is an increasingly important matter in cultural policies worldwide and shapes to be a wide field of action. It goes from communication and dissemination techniques and strategies for reaching new audiences, to policies and actions aimed at consolidating audiences around a cultural proposal. National and European networks for culture currently reflect hugely on the role and value of audience development, such as The Audience Agency, The Arts Council of England and Fitzcarraldo Foundation, which have been recently charged by the European Commission with drawing a European-scale study on audience development. Audience development appears as a “strategic and dynamic process for widening and diversifying audiences and for a general improvement of the conditions for enjoying culture”, as explained in the guidelines of the culture sub-programme in the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme, in which audience development has become a strategic cross-cutting pillar since its beginning.
Audience development in film is emerging as a crucial matter: is accessibility and availability of film through multiple channels sufficient for letting people reach film? How is the relationship people establish with film changing? How can stakeholders play a role in this process and foster people’s full access to film? And what does it mean to have a full access to film? Since 2014, the Creative Europe Programme supports audience development with a strand funded for €1.9 million. Film literacy, as the headline of action 1 of the call, has been acknowledged as strategic for improving access to film as a part of a wider strategy for media literacy that the European Commission has pursued since the early 2000s. Film literacy can be defined as “The level of understanding of a film, the ability to be conscious and curious in the choice of films; the competence to critically watch a film and to analyse its content, cinematography and technical aspects; and the ability to manipulate its language and technical resources in creative moving image production” as reported by Screening Literacy, the first EU report on film literacy edited by a group of institutions from the 28 EU countries, coordinated by the British Film Institute (BFI) and released in 2013 by the European Commission.

2014-2016: A little bit of history
In the past three years, 12 film literacy projects from nine EU countries have been supported, six of which were supported for for more than one edition. Among them are the ABCinema project, coordinated by Cineteca di Bologna aimed at collecting a library of Europe-wide best practices in film literacy; The European Film Academy’s project Young Audience Award, a youth audience prize for European cinema; Doc Alliance Academy project, coordinated by Czech VoD portal, Doc Alliance, aimed at improving circulation and education on documentary film.
Several conferences on film literacy have been held: the Film and Media Education in Poland and in the world conference, hosted by the University of Warsaw and Polish Film Institute from 6 to 7 May; the Media Meets Literacy Conference hosted by the Evens Foundation from 21 to 22 May in Warsaw; the international conference held on 19 June at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris as part of the A Framework for Film Education in Europe project coordinated by the BFI; the Children’s Film First conference held by the European Children’s Film Association in Brussels from 23 to 24 September. Furthermore, the European Media and Information Literacy Forum, hosted by UNESCO, constantly looks at film literacy.

Dossier: Tendenze di mercato
Il cinema dei paesi piccoli: le dimensioni contano?
di Laura Nanchino – per gentile concessione di Cineuropa News

25/06/2016 - On 9 and 10 June, the second edition of the Valletta Film Festival, which took place from 3-11 June in the capital of Malta, where 42 international films had their Maltese premieres (read the news about the awards ceremony here), played host to a conference entitled “Cinema of Small Nations”, which looked at the state of cinema in small European countries. The main themes of the event, supported by the Malta Film Commission, included the questions of how to make audiovisual industries sustainable in small states – such as Malta, Latvia, Iceland, Moldova and Croatia – and how to find ways to cooperate.
The event was opened by a speech from Engelbert Grech, the Maltese film commissioner, presenting the assets of Malta and those of the Malta Film Commission. Grech stressed that, while Malta’s audiovisual sector had previously been based mainly on the service industry, the Malta Film Commission tries to invest in filmmakers, infrastructure and education, with co-production agreements, while also lobbying the EU for access to the Creative Europe fund, as the country has not yet benefited from any Creative Europe funds, and small players must fight for their share of the cake.
"Small is beautiful,” added Anna Franklin from Film New Europe, who listed the advantages of being from a small country, such as better language and communication skills, and a capacity for innovation, while Henning Camre, executive director of the European Think Tank on Film and Film Policy, highlighted the importance of cross-border cooperation between smaller nations, to fill some gaps in areas such as data collection and research.
Content creation in small states
Does the difficulty of accessing audiences affect the content produced, enforcing ‘internationalism’ in the name of universality and marginalising fresh voices?
Latvian director Laila Pakalnina started this first panel by mentioning that the situation for filmmaking and audiovisual creation in Europe is better than it is in the US, as there is no need to recoup money from national or regional funds. She also shared her concerns about the use of audience numbers as a way of determining funding, as numbers are not a guarantee of quality.
Moldovan screenwriter Stefan Barbara presented the difficult situation faced by creators in his country, where talented people leave to work in bigger industries, which is compounded by the fact that there is no state film funding.
“People are desperate to see themselves, their city and their country on big and small screens,” added Irish writer and script consultant Mary-Kate O’Flanagan. There is a need for creation everywhere: “We need indigenous films made by indigenous filmmakers, and cultural diversity.”
“In small states, we jump into creation!” according to Martina Petrovic, head of the Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA Office in Croatia, who recognised that laws, film centres and contributions from TV broadcasters are ways of backing up creation. Petrovic also gave some examples of good practice, such as Dalibor Matanić’s The High Sun [+], and the Mediterranean Film Festival Split.
The participants added that taking part in different events, festivals, workshops, screenwriting sessions and pitching forums can help with thinking outside the box, thus facilitating the process of creation.
Film public policy and infrastructural aspects
What strategies can be adopted by smaller nations in creating the necessary infrastructure, boosting parallel industries and acquiring support on a European level?
Anna Franklin opened by explaining that film policy is everything in small countries. As subsidies are the only way in which films can be made and seen, it is almost impossible to recoup money, because the market is too small. In this sense, it is essential “to work more closely with MEPs, national film bodies and other players to have a direct input in Brussels”, within the EU institutions.
Henning Camre added to this by explaining that money alone would not secure success: “Talent, infrastructure, distributors, sales agents and producers are needed.”
Laufey Guðjónsdóttir, director of the Icelandic Film Centre, presented a case study on Iceland. Iceland publicly funded its first film in 1980, and three to four films are now funded each year. “The absolute minimum is to produce these three films a year; otherwise, we would not keep skilled people on board,” explained Guðjónsdóttir, who said that the rebate scheme of around 20% has been an important factor in attracting foreign productions, and co-productions. “We can be full of self-confidence in small countries,” the director added, referring to the recent success of Grímur Hákonarson’s Rams and Benedikt Erlingsson’s Horses and Men.
“It’s still a work in progress, and we’re doing a lot of fine-tuning,” Engelbert Grechstated about the Malta Film Commission’s policy as he presented the commission’s initiatives, such as the funding of courses for local filmmakers, cash rebates (up to 27% if Malta is shot as Malta, otherwise up to 25%) to get international teams filming in Malta, and a recently launched co-production fund, to help local producers join forces with international producers.
After explaining the funding accessible through the EU’s Creative Europe programme, Martina Petrovic presented some interesting figures from small countries: in 2014, the 11 low-production-capacity countries (Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Greece, Latvia and so on) represented 10% of the awarded EU projects. Despite the automatic points given to small countries in EU calls for proposals, the situation hasn’t changed a great deal, with 11.25% of the projects being awarded to these countries in 2015. “It is not that our film professionals are lazy: out of 14 calls, only six are accessible,” Petrovic concluded.
Dr Roberta Metsola, Member of the European Parliament from Malta, agreed: “What happens when a country cannot benefit from EU grants for film production because of its size, or a lack of a partnership and so on?” He added that politicians from the EU should understand that one size does not fit all. On a positive note, Metsola highlighted beneficial EU initiatives such as the LUX Film Prize, which helps some films to get through to broader audiences.

Film education – film literacy and skills from the professionals
What should the role of film education be, and what sort of professionals should it create to ensure the sustainability of the audiovisual industries?
“It is time to stop being a one-way street,” stated Anna Franklin, building on her positive speech by adding that small countries also have great experts and business models, and have good things to teach.
Mary-Kate O’Flanagan offered the example of Denmark, a small country where it took only two people to improve many things – another advantage of being small. She also mentioned that professional training is absolutely vital and is a lifelong process, as writers don’t have the opportunity to learn from others on set – unlike directors and editors, for instance.
“We are a small state with big stories,” Louiselle Vassallo, lecturer at the University of Malta, in the Department of Media and Communications, added. “We need to see ourselves on the screens, and we should follow Iceland’s example.”
This wish may become a reality, as the Master of Arts in Film Studies from Malta University, launched last year, was described by Prof Gloria Lauri Lucente as a good example of film education in Malta – the first of its kind.
Slobodanka Miskovic, director of Art-kino Croatia, presented a number of activities related to film education through Art-kino, and in Croatia in general: cinema schools that complement the teaching of media literacy in local elementary and high schools, as well as organising workshops for children on how to make films. “Thanks to small actions, we can teach children how to improve their critical skills and their film culture.”
Henning Camre presented examples of good practice in Denmark, where film education was set up in schools 50 years ago. As one of the key players in this evolution in Denmark, Camre explained: “I wanted to establish a strategy in film education. What I did was to find people in the UK, the US, Poland and France, and bring them together, aiming to adopt a Danish approach to that.” He also noticed that a challenge for smaller nations is their dependence on professionals trained abroad.
The future of film and digital changes in small states
What strategies are there to ensure that smaller nations have greater access to distribution networks, including the opportunity to place content on digital platforms?
On a personal note, documentary filmmaker Laila Pakalnina stated: “I am very excited by the internet. There are no borders any more. I am happy when someone downloads my film; it means that it is being viewed by an audience.” She also presented an initiative by the Latvian Film Centre, a web portal that allows those living in Latvia to see Latvian films for free, based on the idea that the movies are partly supported by public funding.
Hronn Marinosdottir (of the Reykjavik Film Festival) questioned the new figures unveiled by the European Audiovisual Observatory, which showed that most of the films available on VoD in the EU are American. “A film festival is extremely important for tourists and the film industry,” Marinosdottir added on a proactive note, presenting some of the events from the Reykjavik Film Festival, such as the industry days, but also more special events like films shown in swimming pools or in a cave: “To give movies the best possible promotion, you have to get people watching them.”
Slobodanka Miskovicpresented another positive aspect of their achievements: two years ago, independent cinemas across Croatia decided to create a network, and accomplish actions together in the fields of programming, marketing and film distribution. The Icelandic feature Rams will soon be distributed via this network.
Yves Jeanneau (Sunny Side of the Doc) presented Asian Side of the Doc, which operates within a region that is facing similar issues to those faced by small European countries: ten countries joined forces and tried to put up a fight, by sharing the same pavilion at Cannes and creating a media management board to coordinate these countries. Jeanneau also talked about new VoD initiatives in Asia such as Iflix, the “Netflix” of South-East Asia, created by people from the region, and mixing blockbusters and content from those countries.
Henning Camre showed his approval by supporting easy-to-use video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix, and reflected on the only potential for growth in cinema – the internet. “The future is now,” he asserted.
Final remarks and closing speeches
The two intensive days of the conference concluded with a round-table including all of the speakers and focusing on their main ideas and wishes for the future of small nations.
“The fact that we are here is a wonderful step,” explained Laufey Guðjónsdóttir. “We can work together on distribution or co-productions. The creative hotspots are not only from the big countries. We should focus on practical matters: everything is about the right story, project or people.” Martina Petrovic agreed: “We need to co-produce and collaborate more, to help each other; this is a necessity.”
“We have four steps to succeed,” added Laila Pakalnina: “1. We should support the Valletta Film Festival; 2. We will become friends; 3. As friends we can make co-productions; 4. We can then more easily distribute films from small countries in other small countries.”
Slobodanka Miskovic insisted on lobbying and film education: “We should be more proactive on the local, national and European levels. Our sector should also be more heavily involved in education. Given that children are watching and sharing audiovisual content more than ever, we should develop their skills.” This stance was shared by Henning Camre.
Mary-Kate O’Flanagan added that the way to succeed is by being better: “We have to use the expertise from good people, to get people in who are really good at this.” This focus on people was also Hronn Marinosdottir’s main idea: “Meeting people is so important, so we have to keep on networking together.”
As for Yves Jeanneau, “A lab for projects from small countries, for co-production and co-funding, may be a great idea, and Sunny Side of the Doc can help.”

The Valletta Film Festival is looking to continue working on improving cooperation between small nations, and will be hosting further related activities next year during the third edition of the festival, which will take place between 16 and 24 June 2017.
For more information, please contact Rebecca Anastasi on: rebecca@filmgrainfoundation.org.