Giffoni Shock is starting: from tomorrow until April 20th there will be many guests

Guests include Bigmama, Cristiano Godano, Jonathan Bazzi, Stefano Batterzaghi.

During the event, a collective of twelve artists will be called to live an experience of collaborative production. There will also be space for the competition with a selection of unpublished works that represent new forms and languages ​​of cinema

Giffoni Shock is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual as a special project – 2022

“It is not true that we want to be happy. It is not true that we like others. It is not true that we are creative”. Three denials, three provocations from which to start again to tell and understand each other a little more: this is the goal of Giffoni Shock, the first edition of an event that does not want to be a simple festival, but a concrete opportunity to free ourselves from the stereotypes that afflict the young people of the new generation, away from superficial interpretations, to go straight to the center of things and explore new territories of discussion and more complex visions.

From tomorrow to April 20, the Multimedia Valley (Giffoni Valle Piana) will host five intense and engaging days, where innovation, creativity, change and sharing will be the key words. The project was created by the Giffoni team with the artistic direction of Luca Apolito, the curator of the event is Gianvincenzo Nastasi, while the coordination is entrusted to the general director Jacopo Gubitosi.

THE PROGRAM

Giffoni Shock will be run through three provocative phrases that gather the fundamental themes to be addressed during the event. All this will take place in the form of a show with debates, workshops, performances, artistic productions and events dedicated to some of the most urgent themes of contemporaneity.

On Wednesday, April 17, the deepest certainties will be questioned with “it is not true that we want to be happy”. An invitation to turn the perspective upside down, to change your point of view and understand, for example, that sadness is not a failure, but a natural and necessary emotion. To erase the stigma surrounding the expression of unhappiness. To break down the simplifications that tell happiness as a constant condition and the social pressures that push towards ideals of happiness that are not always real and often unattainable. To enjoy the “journey” and your personal growth more, without ignoring precious aspects of life that is dotted with a panorama of kaleidoscopic emotions, all relevant and important. Talking about it together with 250 young people, aged 18 to 30, will be MICHELE MEZZANOTTE, psychotherapist and popularizer who brings psychology to social media, explaining concepts and behaviors that are often complicated to understand in a simple and direct way. We continue, again on Wednesday, with VERA GHENO, sociolinguist, popularizer and translator from Hungarian, who teaches at the University of Florence and deals with issues of gender, diversity, equity and inclusion. A comparison to understand how important words are and that the way we choose to express ourselves also influences the actions of the community, generating actions that determine consequences. Instead, the day of Thursday 18 April starts from the assumption "it is not true that we are creative". We are immersed in a world that often seems to reward conformity rather than originality. Pushed to follow trends, to conform to standards to find our place in a panorama that otherwise seems to put us aside.

But how can we express our identity and creativity when the possibility of being accepted seems at risk? This and much more will be discussed with CRISTIANO GODANO, musician, singer-songwriter, writer and frontman of the band Marlene Kuntz. Godano brings with him a wealth of experience and creativity. An opportunity to open your mind, to explore new perspectives and to find inspiration in the courage to be yourself. It is an invitation to break the mold, to embrace our originality and to live life with authenticity and passion.

On the same day, it will also be the turn of STEFANO BARTEZZAGHI, writer, literary critic, professor at Iulm University Milan and Italian journalist known for his work in the field of word games and linguistic puzzles. An opportunity to delve into the complexity of human creativity and to explore new perspectives in the relationship between language, thought and identity. Also on Thursday, there will be space for Fondazione Deloitte which will present the documentary “Un punto preciso”, which tells the story of the choice to donate, with the collaboration of Casa degli Artisti and the support of the Municipality of Milan, a sculpture to the city of Milan on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of astrophysicist Margherita Hack. The work, entitled “Sguardo fisica” and created by the artist Sissi, is the first sculpture on public land dedicated to a female scientist in Italy. The docufilm offers a choral reflection on Hack's intellectual legacy. The aim is to insist on the importance of introducing female students to science and counteract the prejudice that it is not a subject for girls. At the end of the screening, MARCO MARTINELLI, a science communicator and tiktoker, will be speaking to the kids. He launched his first format written and hosted by him: “Il Piccolo Chimico” broadcast on Rai Gulp and streaming on Rai Play. He also hosts a program on environmental sustainability broadcast on Rai2 on Saturday mornings, “Italian Green”. “It's not true that we like others” is the statement, deliberately irreverent, that guides the day of Friday 19 April.

More than a denial, this sentence hides a deeper truth: human identity is made up of continuously evolving fragments, it is not a monolithic block and our uniqueness lies precisely in our differences. We are influenced by the people we meet, the environments we frequent, the cultures that surround us. In this context, the assertion "it is not true that we like others" takes on a new perspective. It is an invitation to look beyond superficial distinctions and to recognize the complexity of human relationships. We like others not because they are similar to us, but precisely because they are different and offer us a different perspective, a new light with which to look at the world. And Marianna Mammone, aka BIGMAMA, a talented rapper, will talk about it with the audience. She immediately established herself for her frank lyrics that sensitize and strike the listener with extreme flow and wordplay, which always get straight to the point. She sings about discrimination and homophobia, always in a personal way, tracing a new path where the courage to lay oneself bare stands out, without victimism, but with a strong personality, boldly showing those scars that inspired her and that she talks about in her songs.

After setting the stage of Sanremo on fire last February, BigMama was invited to give a speech at the UN Glass Palace in New York, in front of an audience of 2000 young people, bringing an intense moment of reflection. And again on the same day it will be the turn of JONATHAN BAZZI, a dazzling star of narrative, passionate about female literary tradition and gender issues. After studying art and graduating in Philosophy, he made his debut in 2019 with “Febbre” (Fandango), a finalist in 2020 for the Strega Prize and winner of numerous awards, including the Bagutta Opera Prima, and Book of the Year by Fahrenheit-Radio 3. In 2022 his second novel, “Corpi minori” (Mondadori) was released. He has written several short stories included in anthologies and magazines. He collaborates with the newspaper Domani and Corriere della sera. Bazzi has always been committed to gender issues and the fight against discrimination.

Closes MARILENA UMUHOZA DELLI, photographer, author, filmmaker and human rights activist, known for her commitment to promoting awareness on the refugee issue and the need for “welcome and integration. Her work has been published worldwide by BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, VICE, Corriere della Sera, Le Monde, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian and the New York Times. She has written four books about her experience as an Afro-descendant woman in Italy, hosts a national radio show on Radio Radicale and writes for Vanity Fair. She co-founded the first black-owned Anti-Racism Academy in Italy and regularly presents workshops throughout Italy, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2020 she was named one of the 50 women of the year by D-Repubblica and in 2023 she was named Community Leader of Change at the Black Carpet Awards organized by Vogue and AFW. Her voice will be a valuable addition to the debate on diversity and the importance of welcoming and valuing cultural and individual differences.

THE COLLECTIVE

During Giffoni Shock, a section of the project will be dedicated to a residential laboratory that will see the formation of a collective of twelve young artists, called to live an unprecedented collaborative production experience. Painters and illustrators, photographers, actors, musicians and composers, writers, poets, digital artists, videomakers, performance artists will find a space where they can explore new forms of inspiration and participate in an interdisciplinary dialogue. Different creative experiences will meet, imagine paths together, finding in the freedom of experimentation a possibility to cross the boundaries between disciplines and open spaces for the birth of new ideas. Each artist will be encouraged to trace a personal path, but will also be integrated into a collective process, among those selected: the illustrators Giusy Lambiasi, Chiara Ferrante, Leonardo Forte, Diana De Stefano and Elisa Patafio, the videomaker and screenwriter Giulia Minella, the writer Venera Dora Leone, the singer-songwriter Simone Castelluccio, the performer and actress Marica Mastromarino, the 2D animator Bianca Costanzo, the photographers Matteo Gioia and Emma Graziani.

MOVIES

The program features a selection of unpublished works that represent the new forms and frontiers of contemporary artistic expression, from Italy, the United States, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Iran, Taiwan, Ukraine, France, India, Spain, Brazil and Algeria. It starts with the Italian A BEAUTIFUL DAY directed by Sarah Marinoni de Athayde, Alessia Lionetti, Angela Li and Chiara Mallus, in which we meet Camilla intent on writing the experiences of the day in her diary, while the shadows come to life on the floor. We are transformed into an underwater world, in which a lobster man meets extraordinary creatures in LOBSTER MAN (Italy), directed by Matteo Dang Minh. Instead, RE.AZIONI (Italy) by Dominic Sambucco is an experimental short film, based on archive footage that dialogues between nature documentaries and black and white images.

TALE OF A VIOLET SKY (Italy) by Nicolò Roberto Roccatello, shows us a seductive dance between two young blind people, transforming the fear of rejection into an extraordinary metaphor. In TSUNAMI (Italy), directed by Arianna Taretto, a girl tired of her daily life decides to end her life, but the world around her takes an unexpected turn. Different story for the last Italian short in competition: in LE VOLEUR VOLÉ by Lorenzo Viale, a stupid but sneaky thief spends his time stealing portraits of rich families and selling them to the highest bidder. But an investigator will know how to trap him and teach him a lesson. And we also discover the inner journey of a girl in search of herself in THE (W)HOLE by Jiansu Wang (United States).

A mysterious soul will allow the protagonist to reflect on the lives she has lived in ABANDONED SOUL, (Czech Republic) by Richard Kozák. A lone bull and a man face mortality in an act of courage in ASTERION, also from the Czech Republic, by Francesco Montagner. Trapped in the swirling thoughts of a night shift, a woman working in a restaurant receives a cryptic phone call that will guide her to a place where she can find refuge from the noise: it is BETWEEN NOTES (UK) by Mathias Obrzut and Sofía Abdellatifi Garcia. An old man gazes at the sea, attracted by a mysterious event, in DEAR ANIMAL (Iran) by Younes Kafashian. A barmaid, now a shadow of herself, silently serves those who have reached the end of their journey: we are in FLOATING IN THE LONG NIGHT (Taiwan) by Yu Jou Liu. A man's attempt to reassemble himself by putting together his organs turns him into a mere piece of meat. Only by remembering one's life can one become a human being: this is the plot of HOMO (Ukraine) by Bekhter Liubov. LYUBIMA (Bulgaria) by Maya Ivanova Vitkova-Kosevù, tells the story of an artist abandoned by her partner.

The woman tries to overcome her pain by asking for help from an elephant in a dream. It takes us to a dreamlike and musical world, through a cartoon made with black ink images, PSYGMES (France) by Sam Quentin. We find ourselves on a planet where no one has the right to grow plants, leading many people to not even know the concept of a tree, in THE SPRAYER (Iran) by Farnoosh Abedi. It is composed of 2D animations THE DOESN'T FIT (India) by Ackshaj Anand that explores uncomfortable situations, telling them with satire and irony. It reflects on memory and the digital world, through the files generated daily on mobile phones, in WHAT REMAINS (Spain) by Alejandro Rodríguez. It takes us into the deep darkness of the night, where a solitary being protects his heart from corruption, WHISPERS OF THE HEART (Algeria) by Mourad Hamla. A masked individual comes into conflict with his perception of life and reflects on his ambitions in a world dominated by the status quo: this is THE YELLOW SUBCONSCIOUS OF SIR BEN (Brazil) by Caio Torretta. It concludes with WITCH NATION (USA) by Sam Lavy, which shows a fight between good and evil magic. The film was created entirely using artificial intelligence technology, without the use of human actors or live footage.

YOUTH PANEL

Furthermore, the Youth Panel is expected to participate during the event, composed of about forty young people between the ages of 14 and 18 that Giffoni has been following and coordinating for years, a youth consultation group of the Safer Internet Centre “Generazioni Connesse” promoted by the Ministry of Education and Merit, which is addressing issues related to digital well-being through specific training and in-depth activities.

The Youth Panel will carry out laboratory activities and moments of discussion dedicated precisely to the themes of conscious use of the Internet. The initiative is one of the articulations of the Safer Internet Centre project “Generazioni Connesse” coordinated by the MIM with the partnership of some of the main Italian entities that deal with Internet security: the Authority for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, the State Police, the Universities of Florence and “La Sapienza” of Rome, Giffoni, Save the Children Italia, Telefono Azzurro, the cooperative EDI onlus and Skuola.net. From this year, the Authority for the Protection of Privacy, the Ministry for the Family, the Agency for National Cybersecurity will become part of the project partnership, offering the possibility of creating new synergies and educational opportunities.