PROGRAM

The 15th edition of Bif&st-Bari International Film&TV Festival will take place from Saturday 16th to Saturday 23rd March 2024 – under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic – promoted and financed by the Puglia Region through Puglia Promozione, produced by the Apulia Film Commission Foundation and directed by its creator Felice Laudadio. Honorary presidents: Ettore Scola and Margarethe von Trotta. Bif&st also benefits from the support of the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture, and of the Municipality of Bari.

Bif&st 2024 is dedicated to two filmmakers who passed away recently: Giuliano Montaldo and Paolo Taviani, great friends of the Bari festival which they frequently attended.

The number of partners and sponsors has increased this year, with greater contributions to the Bif&st budget. Main sponsor is Intesa Sanpaolo. The other sponsors: Confindustria and Ance Bari and Bat, Club Imprese per la Cultura, Gruppo Marino, Aeroporti di Puglia, Monile-MarioMossa Gioielliere, LikeApulia, Pantaleo Agricoltura.

Main Media partner is Rai. Media partners: Corriere della Sera/Corriere del Mezzogiorno, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, La Repubblica, L’Edicola, TeleNorba, Cinecittà News, Feltrinelli, cinematografo.it.

The great Bif&st 2024 tribute dedicated to Marco Bellocchio, with 17 of his films, is also possible thanks to the friendly and decisive collaboration of the Cineteca Nazionale del Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the Cineteca di Bologna and Cinecittà. The University and the Polytechnic of Bari also collaborate in the festival.

The program includes more than 130 events over 8 days including screenings, cinema lessons, meetings, conferences, tribute to Marco Bellocchio, with the participation of 17 films from around fifteen countries around the world and dozens more Italian films which will be presented in the Petruzzelli, Piccinni and Kursaal Theatres. The Margherita Theatre will host workshops, press conferences, meetings on cinema and books.

PETRUZZELLI THEATRE

8 films are scheduled in the non-competitive section of the “International Premieres”, all (except one) absolute Italian premieres just like the 12 films in the competitive “International Panorama” section.

International Premieres

Two wonderful actresses, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, are the protagonists of May December by Todd Haynes (distributed by Lucky Red) based on the Oscar-nominated screenplay by Samy Burch: this is one of the reasons – together with the excellent performances of Portman and Moore and the director’s talent – for which we chose the film for the opening night on March 16th.

On March 17 the festival will screen What Happens Later (Coincidenze d’amore, distributed by Universal Pictures International Italy), a romantic comedy that sees the return to the big screen, after eight years of absence, of the famous actress nominated three times for the Golden Globe, Meg Ryan, also the director of the film.

Danish director Lone Scherfig is the author of La contadora de peliculas (The Movie Teller), a French-Spanish-Chilean film, starring Bérénice Bejio and Daniel Brühl (March 18).

In competition at the next Berlin Film Festival, Another End by Piero Messina with Gael García Bernal and, again, Bérénice Bejo (Indigo Film/01 Distribution) will have its Italian premiere on March 19.

Une affaire d’honneur (The Edge of the Blade) with Roschdy Zem and Doria Tillier is the most recent film directed by Vincent Perez, and starring him, scheduled for the evening of the 20^th. Perez – who will receive the Federico Fellini Award for Cinematic Excellence and who will be in Bari with the film’s screenwriter – will meet the audience after the screening of another powerful film he directed, Alone in Berlin, starring Oscar winner Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson and Daniel Brühl.

On the 21st it will be the turn of two sacred monsters of British cinema, winners each of two Oscars – Michael Caine and the great actress Glenda Jackson who recently passed away – bringing to life on the screen the exciting story told in The Great Escaper by Oliver Parker (Lucky Red).

To the seven films in this non-competitive section, already announced and all in absolute Italian premiere, a truly special event has been added on Friday March 21 at 9.00 pm: a great classic which from 8 April , distributed by Lucky Red, will return to theaters 40 years after its first Italian release: Scarface by Brian De Palma with Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer and F. Murray Abraham, written by Oliver Stone, with music by Giorgio Moroder.

Grand music finale, on the 23rd, with the intriguing first work of Margherita Vicario (granddaughter of the actress Rossana Podestà and of the film director Marco Vicario), author of a film of surprising directorial maturity, Gloria!, with Galatea Bellugi, Carlotta Gamba, Elio and Paolo Rossi, second Italian film chosen in competition by the Berlinale (Tempesta/Rai Cinema/01 Distribution).

International panorama

The jury composed of the film critics Maurizio Porro (president), Fabio Ferzetti and Federico Pontiggia, the producer Elisabetta Olmi and the actress Iris Peynado, will confer three awards to the best director, the best actress and the best actor chosen from the 12 films of the “International Panorama” competition. On March 17: Je verrai toujours vos visages (All Your Faces) by Jeanne Herry with Leïla Bekhti, Élodie Bouchez and Miou-Miou (France) and Retour en Alexandrie (Back in Alexandria) by Tamer Ruggli with Fanny Ardant and Nadine Labaki (France/Switzerland/Egypt). On the 18th: Gondola by Veit Helmer (Germany/Georgia) and Sous le tapis (Over the Cracks) by Camille Japy with Ariane Ascaride and Bérénice Bejo (France). On the 19th: Calladita (The Quiet Maid) by Miguel Faus presented by Steven Soderbergh, with Ariadna Gil (Spain) and The G by Karl R. Hearne with Dale Dickey (Canada). On the 20th: Body Odyssey by Grazia Tricarico, the penultimate film starring Julian Sands before his tragic death (Italy/Switzerland) and Natasha’s Dance by Jos Stelling (Netherlands/Germany). On the 21st: El salto (Jumping the Fence) by Benito Zambrano (Spain/France) and Baltimore by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Ireland/Great Britain). Finally, on the 22nd: La tartaruga by Fabrizio Nardocci with Nello Mascia, Antonello Fassari and Anna Ferruzzo (Italy) and Stella. Ein leben (Stella. A Life) by Kilian Riedhof (Germany/Austria) with Paula Beer, one of the most popular young German actresses on the rise. Almost all film directors will be at Bif&st in person.

ItaliaFilmFest/The Best of the Year. Meetings with the winners.

The Petruzzelli Theatre will also host screenings of the films from the ItaliaFilmFest/The Best of the Year section that have won the awards – assigned by the Bif&st critics’ jury – which will be conferred during the gala evenings. Sergio Rubini, winner of the Alberto Sordi award for best supporting actor, and Luca Bigazzi, winner of the Giuseppe Rotunno award for best cinematography for Felicità by Micaela Ramazzotti, will inaugurate the morning Meetings at Petruzzelli on March 16 with the public and press after the screening of their film. Then, one day after another: Io Capitano by Matteo Garrone, winner of the Mario Monicelli award for best director and the Fellini Award for Cinematic Excellence, will be presented on Sunday March 17, and Garrone at the end of the screening will discuss it with the audience and press. On March 18 Giorgio Diritti and his co-screenwriter Fredo Valla, winners of the Furio Scarpelli award for best screenplay, will speak after the screening of Lubo directed by Diritti. In the evening of March 19 the Franco Cristaldi award for best producer will be conferred to Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa, followed by the Piero Tosi award for costumes to Alberto Moretti, both awards for C’è ancora domani by Paola Cortellesi, winner of the Ettore Scola prize for the directorial revelation.

Set designer Maurizio Sabatini is the winner of the Dante Ferretti award for L’ordine del tempo by Liliana Cavani which will be conferred on March 20.

The best supporting actress winner of the Alida Valli award is Barbora Bobulova, who will speak after the screening, in the morning of March 21, of Il Sol dell’avvenire by Nanni Moretti.

Best editors, and therefore Roberto Perpignani Award for Francesca Calvelli and Stefano Mariotti, who will receive the award in the evening of March 22 for Rapito by Marco Bellocchio, screened in the tribute dedicated to the great director.

Special events in Petruzzelli Theatre

On March 16 at 4.00 pm, in honor of the historic president of the Bif&st, Ettore Scola, there will be the presentation of Cinzia Lo Fazio’s documentary Tutte le cose che restano. Studio E. L. a Cinecittà, where E. stands for Ettore and L. for its historic set designer Luciano (Ricceri).

 Also on March 16, at 6pm, there will be the screening of Nanni Loy’s film Le quattro giornate di Napoli as part of the tribute dedicated to the 120 years of activity of the oldest film production company, Titanus. The film offers the opportunity to remember the 30th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, Gian Maria Volonté, protagonist of Loy’s film.

On March 19 at 9.30am, as a Bif&st tribute to Paolo Taviani, who passed away on February 29th, we will present the restored edition of La notte di San Lorenzo directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani – a multi-awarded film with the Special Jury Prize at Cannes festival 1982, various David di Donatello and Nastri d’argento – at the end of which there will be a meeting with David Grieco, Felice Laudadio, Enrico Magrelli, Donatella Palermo. The restoration, curated by the Cineteca Nazionale- CSC and Istituto Luce Cinecittà, won the Venezia Classici prize at the 2018 Venice Film Festival.

On March 22 at 9.30 am the festival presents the world premiere screening of the documentary Mostruosamente Villaggio by Valeria Parisi on the great Italian actor and popular writer, followed by a meeting with Neri Parenti, Valeria Parisi, Ricky Tognazzi and Elisabetta Villaggio, Paolo’s daughter.

And finally on March 23, as part of the tribute dedicated to Marco Bellocchio, his film Vincere will be presented at 9:00 am with a subsequent meeting between the director and the historian Luciano Canfora.

In the afternoon of March 23 at 4.30 pm there will be the documentary Il ritorno di Maciste by Maurizio Sciarra, with Giuseppe Abbagnale and Steve Della Casa, preceded by the short film Coupon. Il film della felicità by Agostino Ferrente.

​PICCINNI THEATRE

ItaliaFilmFest/New Italian Cinema

8 films, all premieres, selected from many dozens of Italian films, will be evaluated by an audience jury made up of 24 spectators and chaired by Donatella Palermo. These are the titles in competition scheduled at 6.30pm with a repeat the following day: La seconda vita by Vito Palmieri with Marianna Fontana (March 16); Zamora by Neri Marcorè with Alberto Paradossi, Marta Gastini and Marcorè himself (17); La casa di Ninetta written and directed by Lina Sastri who also stars in it with Maria Pia Calzone and Angela Pagano (18); Sottocoperta by Simona Cocozza with Antonio Folletto and Maria Pia Calzone (19); Gli agnelli possono pascolare in pace by Beppe Cino with Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Massimo Venturiello (20); Lola Blue by Eleonora Grilli with Cinzia Cordella (21); Animali randagi by Maria Tilli with Giacomo Ferrara, Andrea Lattanzi, Ivan Franek and Agnese Claisse (22); and finally Il mio posto è qui by Cristiano Bortone and Daniela Porto, with Ludovica Martino and Marco Leonardi (23).

ItaliaFilmFest/Doc

In this non-competitive section, these 9 documentaries will be presented as absolute premieres: Kalavría by Cristina Mantis (March 16); Pretendo l’inferno by Eugenio Ercolani (about Luc Merenda, on the 17); Flora by Martina De Polo (18); C’era una volta il Derby Club  by Marco Spagnoli (19); Eleonora Abbagnato. Una stella che danza by Irish Braschi (20); La canzone di Aida by Giovanni Princigalli, preceded by his short film Porajmus. In Memory of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust (21); E tu slegalo by Maurizio Sciarra (about Franco Basaglia) and Approdi by Lorenzo Scaraggi (22); Pattini e acciaio by Rossella De Venuto.

Cinema&Science. Stardust

In this now consolidated section of Bif&st curated by Orsetta Gregoretti and Silvia Mattoni, six morning meetings will be hosted (from 18 to 23 March) which will follow the screenings of films and documentaries. Meetings dedicated, in particular but not only, to secondary school students and students of the Aldo Moro University and the Polytechnic of Bari. Each day will have a thematic focus.

It will begin on March 18 with Italy and the Space Economy with the participation of Giovanni Sylos-Labini, CEO of Planetek Italia, and Luca Del Monte of the European Space Agency. On the 19th we will talk about Martian Gardens with the scientist Alberto Battistelli, research director of the CNR, and with the scientific journalist Lorenzo Pinna, author of tv program Superquark, who on March 20 will be busy discussing with the scientist Ettore Perozzi, senior scientist of the Italian Space Agency, of Space debris. On March 21 it will be the turn of the scientist Marcella Marconi, research director of the Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory (Inaf) and of Valerio Rossi Albertini, senior scientist del CNR, on the topic Stars and comets. On March 22 the astrophysicist and science communicator Gianluca Masi will deal with the Science of the sky. The Moon is the topic that will be addressed on March 23 by the astronaut and general Roberto Vittori, together with the journalist Enrica Battifoglia in charge of the Science and Technics channel of ANSA news agency. Each meeting will host screenings of films and documentaries, connected to the topics addressed, two of which directed by Marco Spagnoli.

Special events in Piccinni Theatre

Three special events will take place in Piccinni Theatre: the world premiere of N.E.E.T. by Andrea Biglione with, among others, Caterina Murino, Fabrizio Biggio, Pietro de Silva and Mietta, on the government’s proposed reintroduction of compulsory military service for one million young people under 30 who do not study, do not work and do not look for work; Bangarang by Giulio Mastromauro filmed among the children of Taranto which has hosted the largest steel plant in Europe since the 1960s and is now at risk of closure; and the world premiere of W Wolinski by Mauro Cappelloni, a satirical comedy but above all a tribute to George Wolinski, perhaps the best-known of the satirical cartoonists killed in the attack carried out in 2015 in the Paris office of “Charlie Hebdo”.

KURSAAL SANTALUCIA THEATRE

History, memory. Tribute to Marco Bellocchio

The great director Marco Bellocchio has chosen 17 of his films, to be presented, two each day, at the Kursaal Theatre from 16 to 23 March. Between one film and another Bellocchio – accompanied by the critic Enrico Magrelli – will talk about his work as a screenwriter, director and producer, retracing these films: I pugni in tasca (1965), La Cina è vicina (1967), Nel nome del padre (1972), Matti da slegare (1975), Il gabbiano (1977), Salto nel vuoto (1980), Enrico IV (1984), Diavolo in corpo (1986), L’ora di religione (2002), Buongiorno notte (2003), Vincere (2009), Sorelle mai (2010), Marx può aspettare (2021), Sangue del mio sangue (2015), Il traditore (2019), Rapito (2023).

Various personalities from the world of cinema and culture will discuss the films together with Bellocchio, among them: Enzo Augusto, Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Nicola Piovani, Annelore Homberg, Jean Gili, Anton Giulio Mancino, Alberto Crespi, Michele Placido, Luigi Cancrini and Davide Milani. As mentioned above, in the morning of March 23 but in Petruzzelli Theatre, there will be the screening of Vincere (2009) at 9.00 am, followed by a dialogue between Bellocchio and the historian Luciano Canfora.

Special event in Kursaal Theatre

Another special event, a world premiere scheduled on the evening of March 16, is Stolen Moments by Stefano Landini, a docufiction with Pupi Avati and with real actors and fake interviews that tell the story of Sabino, a young Apulian jazz lover who opens in Turin a jazz club, the Stolen Moments, in a warehouse intended for the families of Southern emigrants.

MARGHERITA THEATRE

The famous theater which stands on stilts on the waterfront will host, as always, the press conferences relating to all the films scheduled which will be held every day from 1pm onwards.

It will also be the venue for the traditional presentation of books dedicated to cinema with the presence of the authors. These are the presentations scheduled for the Cinema&Books section coordinated by Angela Bianca Saponari:

• 16 March – GATO BARBIERI by Andrea Polinelli, with the musicologist Lorenzo Mattei (ArtDigiland)
• 17 – LA STORIA E LE STORIE. IL CINEMA (E NON SOLO) DI PUPI AVATI by Giancarlo Zappoli and Claudia Bersani (Book Time 2023)
• 18 – PER CHI SUONA LA CULTURA. Avventure tragicomiche di un organizzatore by Felice Laudadio, with Simone Casavecchia, Jean Gili, Giancarlo Zappoli (Edizioni Sabinae)
• 19 – MEMORIE A BRANDELLI by Evelina Nazzari, with Simone Casavecchia and Evelina Nazzari (Edizioni Sabinae)
• 20 – PER I SOLDI O PER LA GLORIA. Storie e leggende dei produttori italiani by Domenico Monetti and Luca Pallanch, with Alberto Crespi, Domenico Monetti, Luca Pallanch(Minimum Fax-CSC)
• 21 – MIO AMATO BELZEBU’. L’amara Dolce vita con Monicelli e compagnia by Chiara Rapaccini, with Chiara Rapaccini and Salvatore Rossi (Giunti Editore)
• 22 – L’AVVENTUROSA STORIA DE “LA SCOGLIERA DEI DESIDERI” FRA CRONACA, DOCUMENTI, LEGGENDE E CRITICA by Sergio Naitza, with Sergio Naitza (Edizioni Filmpraxis).

Also, the Margherita Theatre will also host the limited-number workshop “Territory of ideas”, dedicated this year to writing for cinema and led by screenwriter Silvia Napolitano, teacher at the National Film School of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.

SIDE EVENTS IN COLLABORATION WITH BIF&ST

Two side events are programmed in collaboration with Bif&st 2024:

• March 20, free entry, at 8 pm, in Nino Rota Auditorium, concert of the Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio Niccolò Piccinni playing: Youmans – Shostakovich: Tahiti-Trot (Tea for Two) op. 16 (1928) – Nino Rota: Il Gattopardo Suite sinfonica (from the score of Luchino Visconti’s film) – Dmitri Shostakovich: Suite for jazz Orchestra n. 2 (Suite for Variety Orchestra, 1950). This fascinating suite in eight movements for full orchestra was compiled by Shostakovich’s unknown colleagues – perhaps in the 1950s – from his film and theater scores. For some years it was mistakenly identified as Jazz Suite No.2 and was recorded under this incorrect title and performed many times. A waltz from this suite was used in the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s latest film, Eyes Wide Shut.
• On March 21st at 5.00 pm at the PoliLibrary – Polytechnic of Bari, Campus Orabona, on the occasion of a free meeting with film director Volker Schlöndorff, president of Bif&st, author of the documentary The Forest Maker (2022), and the astrophysicist Gianluca Masi they will meet students, teachers, technical, administrative and library staff and citizens for a conversation on the theme of “Cinema & Science” with screenings, with particular focus on the experiences of fighting desertification in Africa and the new Space Race.

The Bif&st 2024 program was prepared and implemented by Felice Laudadio, Enrico Magrelli, Giuliana La Volpe, Patrizia Prosperi, Orsetta Gregoretti, Silvia Mattoni, Marco Spagnoli, David Grieco, Maurizio Di Rienzo, Francesca Turrisi from Rome. And from Angelo Ceglie, Angela Bianca Saponari and Alessandra Rizzi from Bari.