Yesterday the names were announced of the films selected for the 50th edition of The Times BFI London Film Festival which takes place in the British capital at the National Film Theatre, and will be held from October 18th to November 2nd, 2006.
The Italian presence this year is substantial and accounts for a total of 25 titles, distributed among the various sections of this prestigious festival's fiftieth celebration.
Featured in FILMS ON THE SQUARE, are three titles which in terms of quality were significant contributors to this year's Italian productions: The Family Friend by Paolo Sorrentino, The Caiman by Nanni Moretti and Crime Novel by Michele Placido, as well as the co-productions Gardens in Autumn by Otar Ioseliani and Ten Canoes by Rolf de Heer.
CINEMA EUROPA features in their selection 7 other remarkable titles: Along the Ridge, the directorial debut of Kim Rossi Stuart which earned critical and public acclaim at last year's Cannes Film Festival, L'aria salata by Alessandro Angiolini, As the Shadow by Marina Spada which was presented at the Venice lido in the section Venice Days and just back from the screening at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, Missing Star by Gianni Amelio, also presented in both Venice and Toronto, La strada di Levi by Davide Ferrario, The Wedding Director by Marco Bellocchio and the Italian and Austrian co production Babooska by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel.
Also worth mentioning in WORLD CINEMA, the co-production Nacido y Criado (Born and Bred)by Pablo Trapero and in the section Esperimenta the co-produced short Proprio Aperto, by Judith Hopf, Nayascha Sadr Haghighian, Florian Zeyfang.
Finally, the festival this year pays tribute to maestro Vittorio De Seta, with a program of screenings in the section TREASURE FROM ARCHIVES of "Banditi a Orgosolo", and 10 of his short films: "Un giorno in Barbagia", "Pastori a Orgosolo", "Pescherecci", "Lu tempu di li pisci spata", "Contadini del mare", "Isole di fuoco", "Sulfatera", "Pasqua in Sicilia", "Parabola d'oro" e "I Dimenticati".