From Naples to Brussels: the second edition of the Pianeta Mare Film Festival becomes itinerant

20 films in Competition selected from 120 works from 31 different countries: from India to Brazil.

A Monster Movies marathon, workshops with schools and short film production labs with smartphones for young directors and students are among the distinctive features of the PMFF

Films in competition tripled and countries represented from all over the world increased by 50%. These are the two data from this second edition that clearly demonstrate the growth of the PMFF, the Pianeta Mare Film Festival that returns again this year from 4 to 8 October in Naples, the city where cinema was born thanks to Étienne-Jules Marey and modern marine biology thanks to Anton Dohrn (complete program of the Festival on www.pianetamarefilmfestival.it). “We have gone from 40 to 120 films in competition that this year come from 31 countries around the world (from India to Brazil) compared to the 20 countries represented in the first edition”.

Ferdinando Boero, president of the PMFF and president of the Dohrn Foundation, presents the details of the second edition of the first Italian festival to explore, through cinema, the relationship between humans and the sea, biodiversity, and ecosystems. This festival boasts (for the first time ever for an Italian festival) a partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), chaired by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, whose mission is to mobilize the scientific and cultural worlds in search of new solutions for sustainable development.

A task that represents one of the constituent objectives of the Pianeta Mare Film Festival which this year will also have a marathon of monster movies entitled "Nature rebels". “The ecological transition that we are called to undertake - highlights Boero - it cannot take place without first of all a cultural change such as that requested for years by Pope Francis who, with his famous encyclical “Laudato Si'”, coined the need for an 'ecological conversion'. The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn with its structures open to the public (the Aquarium, the Portici Turtle Center and the Darwin Dohrn Museum, entrusted to the Dohrn Foundation) has precisely the purpose of generating culture in the marine field and this Festival is part of this strategy”.

From Naples to Brussels: the PMFF itinerant journey

This year, too, the PMFF, organized by the Pianeta Mare Darwin Dohrn cultural association, founded by journalist Max Mizzau Perczel, together with numerous world-renowned scientists, such as Boero himself and geneticist Franco Salvatore, will take a traveling format to increase participation in more locations and cities.

“The sea, an identifying element of this city and a precious heritage to be protected - underlines the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi - is the star of the international Film Festival Pianeta Mare, which returns to Naples this year with films and shorts that shine a spotlight on nature, exploring the fascinating marine world, its biodiversity, and its ecosystems through cinema: an immense, vitally important heritage that must be protected. Along with successful directors, the Festival features talented videomakers who address environmental issues using modern audiovisual technologies. This is a highly attractive event because it creates opportunities for young people to share and collaborate to build a sustainable future.

From Cannes to Locarno: some of the best films presented this year around the world arrive at the Pianeta Mare Film Festival in Naples

The PMFF has two competition sections: "Features Film," dedicated to feature films, and "Short Movies," reserved for short films. A total of 20 films and shorts have been selected for competition, chosen from works submitted by directors from 31 different countries, with an average age under 40. "A diverse selection," emphasizes Antonio Borrelli, spokesperson for the Festival's Artistic Committee, "made up of works with diverse approaches and created using surprising narrative and artistic methods, a variety of genres, from documentary to animation, from video art to fiction.

The feature film competition will include, among others: “Zio Riz” by Raffaela Mariniello, produced by Angelo Curti with Teatri Uniti, “Kristos, the Last Child” by Giulia Amati, among the films featured at the Giornate degli autori in Venice, “Whispers of Fire & Water” by Lubdhak Chatterjee, coming from the Locarno Film Festival in Italian preview, “All of Our Heartbeats are Connected Through Exploding Stars” by Jennifer Rainsford, selected at Hot Docs Toronto and winner of the Audience Award at the Pesaro Film Festival, and “Aya” by Simon Coulibaly Gillard, coming from the independent section “Acid” of the Cannes Film Festival.

Among the short films, noteworthy, in Campania preview, are “Dive” by Aldo Iuliano in competition at Orizzonti at the last Venice Film Festival, “Nothing Holier Than a Dolphin” by Isabella Margara, Audience Award at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand Festival, “Ivalu” by Anders Walter and Pipaluk K. Jørgensen, nominated for the 2023 Oscars, and “Lizzie and the Sea” by Mariacarla Norali, the latest production of Luciano Stella's Mad Entertainment.

The jury of the Pianeta Mare Film Festival this year will be composed of the photographer Marco Delogu, curator of world-famous exhibitions and festivals, and president of Palaexpo in Rome, the David di Donatello Award winner Giogiò Franchini, editor of films by some of the most important Italian directors, including the Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, and Florencia Santucho, director of the Festival Internacional de Cine Ambiental in Buenos Aires and member of the Green Film Network board.

This year's PMFF will once again feature numerous screenings and workshops for schools, talks and roundtables with world-renowned scientists on sustainable development, a workshop competition for mobile videomakers under 30, and free admission to all screenings thanks to the support of numerous scientific, academic, cultural, institutional, and business partners. These include the United Nations SDSN, the Italian Representation of the European Commission, the Film Commission of the Campania Region, the Municipality of Naples, the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, the Dohrn Foundation, Eni, ABC di Napoli, the Banco di Napoli Foundation, the University of Naples Federico II and the University of Salento, and the Flag Pesca Flegrea. Idis Città della Scienza Foundation, Experimental Center of Cinematography Foundation of Rome and National Film Archive, Marevivo, MM Engineering Company of the Municipality of Milan, Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, ReGeneration Hub Friuli, Pigneto Film Festival of Rome. Technical partners include: BCC Napoli, Screenlight, Federazione del Mare, Scugnizzi a Vela Association, San Giovanni a Teduccio - San Giorgio Naval League of Naples, EPM, Tennis Club Napoli, Yamamay. Media partner: Radio Immaginaria.