Seventy Italian titles in all will be presented in the following categories : competition, panorama, retrospectives and tributes, as part of the extensive programme of the Villerupt Italian Film Festival (October 29.-November 13 ), which will include the French premiere of Roberto Benigni’s The Tiger and the Snow.
Eight titles in competition, including some first features such as Apnea by Roberto Dordit, E se domani… by Giovanni La Parola, Gas by Luciano Melchionna e Mater natura by Massimo De Andrei, and also Nessun messaggio in segreteria by Miniero and Genovese, Onde by Francesco Fei, Sotto il sole nero by Enrico Verra e Viva Zapatero! by Sabina Guzzanti.
Around thirty films are presented in Panorama, including some which are still unedited in France such as, The Remains of Nothing by Antonietta De Lillo, Don’t Tell by Cristina Comencini, Saimir by Francesco Munzi, The Passion of Joshua, the Jew by Pasquale Scimeca, The Life I Want by Giuseppe Piccioni, When do the Girls Show Up? by Pupi Avati, Manuale d’amore by Giovanni Veronesi, Private by Saverio Costanzo, La febbre by Alessandro D’Alatri, and certain premieres such as Once You’re Born by Marco Tullio Giordana and Land Wind by Vincenzo Marra and previously mentioned :The Tiger and the Snow by Roberto Benigni.
The programmed tributes are in honour of the comic trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, Davide Ferrario and Ferzan Ozpetek.
The huge delegation invited to the festival covers over 20 names, between directors and actors, who will be on hand to present their films. (Davide Ferrario, Roberto Dordit, Claudio Santamaria, Valentina Carnellutti, Riccardo Milani, Vera Belmont, Antoine Santana, Francesco Fei, Anita Caprioli, Paolo Genovese, Isabel Russinova, Giovanni La Parola, Sabrina Impacciatore, Paolo Kessisoglu, Luca Bizzarri, Massimo Andrei, Maria Pia Calzone, Ferzan Ospetek, Giorgio Ferrero, Luciano Melchionna, Enrico Verra, Vito Zagarrio).
Finally we must mention the retrospective “Sixty Years Ago” dedicated to the Italian postwar period ranging from famous neorealism masterpieces to some of the best contemporary feature films.