PLANNED PROGRAM
The Festival at Palazzo Venezia_Art a is an annual event.
The third edition will take place in Rome, lasting twentyone days from 8th to 29th of September 2006.
The Festival, under the high Patronage of the Italian Republic’s Presidency, receives direct and enthusiastic support from: Claudio Strinati, Superintendent of the Rome Museum Coalition; Assessor Giulia Rodano of the Lazio region; Assessor Vincenzo Vita of the Province of Rome; Assessor Gianni Borgna of the City Council of Rome; Luciano Sovena, general executive manager of Istituto Luce; Francesco Alberoni, president of Cineteca Nazionale – Fondazione C.S.C.; Barbara Scaramucci of RAI Teche; Franco Migliacci and Stefano Micocci of S.I.A.E.; and Laura Delli Colli of the Italian National Film Journalists’ Union.
All this points up what a significant impact this initiative, the only one of its kind in Italy, has had on institutions. Through them we have already extended the winning ideas of the first and second editions of the Festival at Palazzo Venezia_Art throughout Italy; in the domains of art, culture and communication.
By showing cinema and documentaries on art today, and encouraging discussion on these topics, we hope to give world visibility to an entire area of production, for which Italy is a natural setting, and also to create a stimulus for launching “made in Italy” productions that can compete with the best international productions.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The competition is divided into five sections:
1. ART AND ARTISTS
This section includes the most important productions from the year 2003 to the present from all over the world, in the area of “story-telling” with images associated with painting, biographies of artists, sculpture, performance, exhibition settings, new trends in contemporary art, solo exhibitions by artists, restoration, events, investigations, TV programs, critical studies, and the history of art and its leading figures in all periods and of all trends.
2. ARCHITECTURE
This section includes the most important productions from the year 2003 to the present from all over the world, dealing with architecture, design and related computer graphics: documentaries on monuments, churches, museums, buildings, cities, villages, modern and contemporary architectural design, restoration, landscape interventions, gardens, architectural installations, land art, architect’s biographies and historical material on the art of building and reconstruction.
3. CINEMA
This section includes the most important productions from the year 2003 to the present from all over the world, dealing with documentaries on cinema, and includes biographies of actors, directors, producers, scriptwriters etc., the history of cinema, historical material, critical studies, television programs, backstage, etc.
4. THEATRE
This section includes the most important productions from the year 2003 to the present, dealing with theatre and the performing arts, excluding dance and music. The section welcomes stories on actors, playwrights, sets, costumes, theatrical stagings, backstage, rehearsals, cabaret, monologues, experimentation and performances, as well as television programs, critical studies, masks, puppets, etc, etc.
5. NEW LANGUAGES
This section includes the most important productions from the year 2003 to the present from all over the world, in the area of research and visual experimentation, including those developed in schools and academies. It presents new horizons and innovative linguistic approaches through the use of cinematographic and audiovisual techniques such as: essays and animated shorts, experimental films, “auteur” documentaries and university critical essays.
The international Jury, made up of seven members, will award an overall 1st prize and prizes for the best film in each competition category, as well as prizes for best photography, best editing and most innovative documentary.
Special recognition (the Lazio Region Prize) will also be presented by the Festival’s President and Artistic Director for the two best films in the “Spirit of the Times” section. President Carlo Fuscagni will also assign the “Plaque of the Italian Republic’s President” to the best film on Italian art.
RELATED EVENTS
The Festival at Palazzo Venezia_Art also includes some major related
events.
Restrospective exhibitions
LetteraturaDocFest presented by Doc Fest and Rai Educational – Magazzini Einstein, managing director Maria Paola Orlandini, and curated by University of Siena, Department of Modern Literatures and language Sciences; Literature, visual culture and communication section, Coordinator Michele Rak; ArchitetturaDocFest curated by Antonella Greco; Architeche curated by Anna Maria Cerrato; Personale Nino Bizzarri curated by Rai International; CinemaDocFest retrospective.
The Festival will present 4 related exhibitions using materials from the Istituto Luce Italian historical archives, RAI (Rai Educational, Rai Teche, Rai Trade, Rai International), the Cineteca Nazionale of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the Bologna Film Library and the Olivetti Historical Archive, as well as rarities from private archives.
These events are designed to be presented following the Festival in sites in and around Rome, in the various provinces of the Lazio region, and in other Italian cities, as a natural expansion of communication and public involvement in the initiative.
ORGANISATION OF THE FESTIVAL
Carlo Fuscagni, the Festival’s President, brings to the project 30 years of invaluable experience in cinema and television; Claudio Strinati guides the selection of films in competition and related events, applying scientific parameters and a consistent historical and cultural approach; Rubino Rubini, the Artistic Director, has extensive experience in documentary films on art and culture, and has the task of collecting and selecting films, documentaries and retrospective exhibitions from all over the world; Carla Pilla and Veronica Fragola are the Festival’s organizational secretaries.
The members of the international jury are of the highest caliber in the fields of art, culture, performing arts and communications.
Fims and documentaries in competition will be selected by a group of experts headed by Giovanni Oppedisano and Simonetta Cristiano.
RAI will cover the entire Festival, with TV features broadcast both on the news and on the most popular culture and entertainment programs. The private network MEDIASET will do the same.
Films in competition will be collected by Veronica Fragola through contacts with world television, production companies, foundations, museums throughout the world, PRIX ITALIA, and producers’ associations, in co-operation with the DOC.IT Documentarians’ Association, the MEDIA broadcast structure of the European Union and Eurovision.
EVENTS
Every evening of the Festival at 9:00 pm, special events will be organized, with participation from directors, producers and heads of regular television network programs. These events will include sneak previews, films and documentaries out of competition, exhibition openings, happenings, television sneak previews, etc, etc.
ARCHIVE
Lastly, we mention a project that in time will become the central feature of our initiative, the Archive of the Festival at Palazzo Venezia. This will firmly establish the festival in Italy and allow dialogue to develop between the world of cultural institutions and schools.
For each edition of the Festival, copies of the films submitted (over 400 are expected, among competition entries and films for related events) will be stored in two archives, which will shortly offer the most important collection in Italy of audio-visual materials on these themes. This collection can be expanded further through international exchange and made available to the public and schools at two ad hoc video libraries. These new structures, for which preliminary contacts are already underway, will thus become the permanent operations headquarters for the Festival, open year round for consulting as well as for exhibitions, conferences and meetings. These archives will be housed in Palazzo Venezia, in cooperation with the Special Superintendency of the Rome Museum Coalition, and at the MAV (Virtual Archaeological Museum) in Herculaneum, Naples, in cooperation with the Herculaneum City Council, the Province of Naples and the Campania Region. |
