After the presentation of Season number 39 of Catonateatro, Polis Cultura also launches Verso Sud Festival of Mediterranean cinema now in its fifteenth edition, again in the splendid setting of the Alberto Neri Arena in Catona. 15 years of emotions shared with the large public who have never failed to support a quality event which has given us unforgettable evenings and great meetings over the years (think of the awards to Gigi Proietti, Ficarra and Picone, Mimmo Calopresti, Donatella Finocchiaro , the sensational evening with Marcello Fonte and the Archi band almost sold out For Donkey flies and much more), all experienced on the big screen thanks to stories of rebirth and redemption, internal and public conflicts, uprootings and migrations, love and anger… Works that have best represented the South, both as a geographical place and as a place of the soul . Every year therefore great attention is paid to film works coming from our South with an important window on the South of the world. And a lot of Calabria this year with 3 films on the bill, which are the result of a Season (which has been going on for some years now to tell the truth) full of successes for Calabrian cinema, with actors who reconfirm themselves in challenging roles and new recruits who give hope for the future, but in general the entire audiovisual sector thanks to a constantly growing Calabria Film Commission. And with Verso Sud, as always, the Award in memory of Nicola Petrolino, tireless cultural operator of the city and soul of Verso Sud, returns, created by the Master goldsmith Michele Affidato who recently also signed the prestigious Nastro D’Argento – Grandi Serie awards. The choice of the Award this year fell on Anna Maria De Luca, a long-standing theater and cinema actress who in recent years has also had successful forays into television series (ZeroZeroZero, Imma Tataranni, Deputy Prosecutor, Trust – the Getty kidnapping, R.IS., Antimafia squad). Often present in the billboards of Verso Sud, we remember the beautiful roles in Our Father, A Female, The Aphid and the Antwe will see De Luca in 2 works of this Edition, The homecoming celebration (August 2, the evening of the award ceremony) And My place is here.
But let’s take a closer look at the titles in review:
Works that once again see young people as protagonists of these difficult years, fighting for freedom (I am Captain by Matteo Garrone winner of the Davids for best film and best director, screened on 28 August) and the recognition of one’s rights, as in the splendid Inshallah to boy (July 25), Oscar nominee for Jordan and first Jordanian film presented at the Cannes Film Festival and again If only I were a Bear (19 August), another story of redemption, in this case through study, for a better future (official selection A certain regard of Cannes). And we still look at the school, emblem of our years, in A world apart (11 August), social comedy with Antonio Albanese and Virginia Raffaele, great success of this film season (highest Italian grossing of 2024), which deals with the age-old problem of supernumerary classes causing depopulation and the consequent cultural impoverishment of some areas of the our South, the film also intelligently quotes the Calabrian anthropologist Vito Teti and his concept of Restanza (title of his latest essay). On August 26th it will be the turn of The teachers’ lounge (Goya award for best European film) which still sees school at the center of the narrative, a compelling reflection on the contradictions of the society in which we live, on the price of truth and the weight of prejudices, told through the events of a young teacher. Winter Lemons (July 23) with a surprising Christian De Sica and the always good Teresa Saponangelo, is a delicate story about an encounter between two solitudes who help each other to relieve a hidden pain. With great pleasure and a pinch of pride, Verso Sud promotes Calabria as a land of cinema again this year, with three works on the bill. Children still protagonists in it The homecoming celebration (2 August), from the novel by Carmine Abate, set in a small Arbëresh village with the protagonist Alessio Praticò from Reggio (who won the Verso Sud Award in 2019) and The other way (July 31), a coming-of-age novel about a football-loving boy who encounters the descending parable of a former champion (the intense Fausto Verginelli) in the sign of a friendship necessary for both. My place is here (August 30) from the novel by Daniela Porto (also co-director with Cristiano Bortone, Giuliano Montaldo award for Best Director and Mariangela Melato award for Best Leading Actress Ludovica Martino at the latest Bif&st), is a profound and emotional story of female redemption set in 1940s Calabria and filmed largely in Gerace, with an extraordinary Marco Leonardi. We also speak Calabrian The last night of Love (July 21, opening film) with Pierfrancesco Favino and Linda Caridi (actress on the rise, with origins from Reggio), set on the streets of a nocturnal Milan where the light never seems to reach, an Italian noir with a great cast, presented at the latest Berlin Film Festival. The subscription campaign continues throughout the month of June and immediately afterwards it will be possible to choose individual films for another great Edition of Verso Sud signed by Polis Cultura, all to be enjoyed under a sky of stars in summer 2024.
