The first edition of the Pianeta Mare International Film Festival of Naples is underway, an educational event created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn.
Exploring cinema inspired by life in the sea and raising public awareness of universal values and environmental issues that are fundamental to the health of man and the blue planet. These are the objectives with which the Pianeta Mare di Napoli International Film Festival kicks off this year in Naples, an educational event conceived on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, an Italian public research body for marine biology, ecology and biotechnology, chaired by Professor Chris Bowler.
The Festival, which will take place from 5 to 8 October, was organized with the contribution of the Campania Region and the Film Commission Regione Campania and with the patronage of the European Commission - Representation in Italy and the Municipality of Naples. The first edition of the Film Festival will have completely free admission for the public and will take place in two different locations: the new Darwin Dohrn Museum on biodiversity and evolution of life in the sea in Villa Comunale, and the Cinema Academy Astra in via Mezzocannone 109, thanks to the partnership with the University of Naples Federico II. In addition, there will be a significant cultural partnership with the Museo della Centrale dell'acqua di Milano MM which will screen a selection of the short films in competition in Naples.
In the international city of Naples, in one of the most beautiful and biodiversity-rich gulfs in the world, from 5 to 8 October many important events will be hosted, divided into different cinematographic, but also scientific and musical sections (full program on www.pianetamarefilmfestival.it)
There are two main competition sections that offer two important prizes, “Features film” dedicated to feature films, with a prize of 3.000 euros for the best film, and “Short movies” reserved for short films, with a prize of 2.000 euros. In total, there are 16 films and shorts in competition, chosen from works received from directors from 22 nations, with an average age of under 40, 2 of which will be world premieres and 3 Italian premieres. “A composite selection – highlights Ferdinando Boero, president of the Dohrn Foundation and the Pianeta Mare International Film Festival of Naples – works with different settings and created using narrative methods that are also distant from each other, which also present an interesting variety of genres, from documentary to animation, through video art to fiction. Many themes were addressed, from a direct look at the marine environment to various reflections on the contemporaneity of an overall ecosystem, now under attack, the will was to offer a wide-ranging proposal, in the search for a balance between man, the sea and nature".
In the special section “Panorama oltremare” there will be three significant Italian films from the last year with special guests: on October 6, director Alessandro Rak will present “Yaya e Lennie – The Walking Liberty” at the Cinema Astra, on October 7, again at the Astra, actress Ondina Quadri will present the revelation film “Piccolo corpo” by Laura Samani, and, finally, on October 8, at the Darwin Dohrn Museum, another important film such as “Re gabbiano”, which will be presented by director Matteo Zoppis and composer Vittorio Giampietro.
The highlight of this first edition will be the retrospective, with images and period films entitled, “Étienne-Jules Marey and Jean Painlevé. The world pioneers of pre-cinema and scientific cinema” scheduled for October 5 at the Darwin Dohrn Museum, curated by Brigitte Berg and Valeria D'Ambrosio, respectively director and film curator of Les Documents Cinématographiques. These are two key figures in the history of cinema: Étienne-Jules Marey lived for 25 years in Naples in the second half of the nineteenth century, becoming a friend of Anton Dohrn, and developed new photography techniques (chronophotography) with the first moving images that laid the foundations for the evolution of cinema. Jean Painlevé, a director specializing in underwater fauna, instead made pioneering documentaries on octopuses and seahorses in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs.
Still out of competition, on Saturday 8 October, a section with one-minute films made with smartphones by video makers under 30, including those from the Film Festival's Creative Laboratory, conceived, recorded and edited in workshops that will be held during the FilmFestival, directed by 26-year-old director Valerio Ferrara - winner of the best short film award at the "Cinef" of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival - with editing teachers Daria De Pascale and Diego Bellante, with the participation of students from the cinema, photography and TV and natural sciences courses at the University of Naples Federico II and other universities and film schools.
The program will also include many talks and round tables involving scientific personalities, journalists, partners, artists and directors, to discuss the situation of the seas and oceans, the role that public and private entities can have in an idea of a sustainable future, the blue economy and its entrepreneurial prospects.
The jury of the Film Festival will be chaired by Antonietta De Lillo, an internationally renowned director and producer with films awarded in Italy and abroad, and composed of Gina Annunziata (Coordinator and teacher of the Film School of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, curator), Titta Fiore (President of the Film Commission Foundation of the Campania Region, film journalist, author), Matt Frost (Marine biologist and President of the World Association Marine Stations) and Ado Hasanovic (Director and Artistic Director of the Festival “Passaggi d'Autore – Intrecci Mediterranei” of Sant'Antioco). The “Jury of university students” from the universities of Naples and the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples will also be present.
The first edition of the Pianeta Mare Film Festival will end on Saturday 8 October at the Darwin Dohrn Museum with the awards for the competing sections and with two special personal recognitions to the Mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi for having welcomed the Film Festival and to Professor Roberto Danovaro, one of the inspirers of the Film Festival.
The Festival is conceived and curated by the Pianeta Mare Darwin Dohrn Cultural Association, whose board of directors is composed of President Max Mizzau Perczel, Vice President Ferdinando Boero and Professor Emeritus Francesco Salvatore.
Article published on 4 October 2022 - 12:09
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