International Premières

The Petruzzelli Theatre hosted nine films, absolute Italian or world premières, each evening completely sold out:

April 22: LA TENEREZZA by Gianni Amelio with Renato Carpentieri, Elio Germano, Micaela Ramazzotti, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Maria Nazionale, Greta Scacchi – Italy 2017, world première

23: MISS SLOANE by John Madden with Jessica Chastain, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Mark Strong, USA-France 2016

24: UNLOCKED by Michael Apted with Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich – United Kingdom 2017, 98’, world première

25: GOING IN STYLE by Zach Braff with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, USA 2017

26: 20th CENTURY WOMEN by Mike Mills, with Annette Bening, Ellen Fanning, Greta Gerwig, USA 2016

27: GET OUT by Jordan Peele with Bradley Whitford, Allison Williams, Betty Gabriel, Catherine Keener, USA 2017

28: LE DIVAN DE STALINE (Stalin’s Couch) by Fanny Ardant with Gérard Depardieu, Emmanuelle Seigner, France-Portugal 2016

29: RETURN TO MONTAUK by Volker Schlöndorff with Stellan Skarsgård, Bronagh Gallagher, Nina Hoss, Niels Arestrup, Germany-France-Ireland 2017

29: GIFTED by Marc Webb with Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Jenny Slate, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer, USA 201

International Panorama

10 films in competition and 2 out of competition, from all over the world, were presented at Bif&st in Italian or International première. Italian films had their world première in Bari.

An audience jury, of 30 selected members, headed by actress, screenwriter and film director Chiara Caselli, conferred the following awards:

• Bif&st 8½ International Award to the best film director
• Bif&st 8½ International Award to the best lead actor
• Bif&st 8½ International Award to the best lead actress

In competition:

• AN ORDINARY MAN by Brad Silberling with Ben Kingsley, Peter Serafinowicz, USA 2017, world première
• CAROLE MATTHIEU by Louis-Julien Petit with Isabelle Adjani, Corinne Masiero, Lyes Salem, France 2016
• DEV BHOOMI, LAND OF THE GODS by Goran Paskaljevic with Victor Banerjee, Geetanjali Thapa, Uttara Baokar, India-Serbia 2016
• EL OTRO HERMANO (The Lost Brother) by Israel Adrián Caetano with Angela Molina, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Daniel Hendler, Argentina-France-Spain-Uruguay 2017
• EN AMONT DU FLEUVE (Upstream) by Marion Hänsel with Olivier Gourmet, Sergi López, Belgio-Netherlands-Croatia 2016
• GOLD by Stephen Gaghan with Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Joshua Harto, Timothy Simons USA 2016, Italian distribution Eagle Pictures
• DIE NACHT DER 1000 STUNDEN (Night of A 1000 Hours) by Virgil Widrich with Laurence Rupp, Amira Casar, Austria-Luxembourg-Netherlands 2017
• THEIR FINEST by Lone Scherfig with Gemma Arterton, Bill Nighy, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston, United Kingdom 2016
• TUTTO QUELLO CHE VUOI by Francesco Bruni with Giuliano Montaldo, Andrea Carpenzano, Donatella Finocchiaro, Italy 2017, Italian distribution RAI Cinema/01 Distribution, world première
• UNLESS by Alan Gilsenan with Catherine Keener, Matt Craven, Hanna Gross, Hanna Schygulla, Canada-Ireland 2016, international première

Out of competition:

• DE PREMIER (The Prime Minister) by Erik van Looy with Koen De Bouw, Saskia Reeves, Adam Godley, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Truus de Boer, Belgium-Netherlands 2016
• NOBILI BUGIE by Antonio Pisu with Claudia Cardinale, Raffaele Pisu, Giancarlo Giannini, Ivano Marescotti, Gianni Morandi, Italy 2017, world première.

ItaliaFilmFest/Feature Films. The Awards

The permanent Bif&st jury of 9 Italian film critics, members of SNCCI (National union of Italian film critics) – Valerio Caprara (Il Mattino), Paolo D’Agostini (La Repubblica), Fabio Ferzetti (Il Messaggero), Francesco Gallo (ANSA), (Alessandra Levantesi Kezich (La Stampa), Paolo Mereghetti (Corriere della Sera), Franco Montini (president SNCCI), Federico Pontiggia (Il Fatto Quotidiano and La Rivista del Cinematografo), Silvana Silvestri (Il Manifesto) – has conferred the following awards among the best Italian feature films of 2016-2017:

• Claudio Giovannesi – Mario Monicelli Award Best Director, for FIORE by ClaudioGiovannesi
• Attilio De Razza and Pierpaolo Verga – Franco Cristaldi Award Best Producer, for INDIVISIBILI by Edoardo De Angelis
• Ficarra and Picone, Edoardo De Angelis, Nicola Guaglianone, Fabrizio Testini – Tonino Guerra Award Best Storyline, for L’ORA LEGALE by Ficarra and Picone
• Francesca Archibugi, Paolo Virzì – Luciano Vincenzoni Award Best Screenplay, for LA PAZZA GIOIA by Paolo Virzì
• Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – Anna Magnani Award Best lead actress, for LA PAZZA GIOIA by Paolo Virzì
  Riccardo Scamarcio – Vittorio Gassman Award Best lead actor, for PERICLE IL NERO by Stefano Mordini
• Barbara Ronchi – Alida Valli Award Best supporting actress for FAI BEI SOGNI by Marco Bellocchio
• Francesco Acquaroli – Alberto Sordi Award Best supporting actor for SOLE CUORE AMORE by Daniele Vicari
• Enzo Avitabile – Ennio Morricone Award Best score composer for INDIVISIBILI by Edoardo De Angelis
• Rocco Marra – Giuseppe Rotunno Award Best cinematographer for FALCHI by Toni D’Angelo
• Marco Dentici – Dante Ferretti Award Best set designer for FAI BEI SOGNI by Marco Bellocchio
• Marco Spoletini – Roberto Perpignani Award Best editor for FALCHI by Toni D’Angelo
• Massimo Cantini Parrini – Piero Tosi Award Best costumes for INDIVISIBILI by Edoardo De Angelis.

ItaliaFilmFest – First and Second works

An audience jury of 30 selected member, chaired by Klaus Eder, General Secretary of Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics), conferred the following awards to the first and second Italian film works, premières or released in theatres or selected in international festivals up to the end of March 2017:

• Ettore Scola Award Best director of first or second work
• Mariangela Melato Award for cinema Best lead actress
• Gabriele Ferzetti Award Best lead actor

Films in competition:

• I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE by Andrea De Sica (first)
• IN GUERRA PER AMORE by Pierfrancesco Diliberto-Pif (second)
• IL PADRE D’ITALIA by Fabio Mollo (second)
• LA GUERRA DEI CAFONI by Davide Barletti and Lorenzo Conte (second)
• LA RAGAZZA DEL MONDO by Marco Danieli (first)
• LE ULTIME COSE by Irene Dionisio (first)
• OMICIDIO ALL’ITALIANA by Maccio Capatonda (second)
• ORECCHIE by Alessandro Aronadio (second)
• IL PERMESSO by Claudio Amendola (second)
• SMETTO QUANDO VOGLIO – MASTERCLASS by Sydney Sibilia (second)
• SOCIALMENTE PERICOLOSI by Fabio Venditti (first)
• TARANTA ON THE ROAD by Salvatore Allocca (first), world première

Focus on…

The awards of ItaliaFilmFest/Feature Films were handed out day by day from April 22 to 29 in the Petruzzelli Theatre. Awarded films were screened in the Galleria multiplex. Winners participated in a Focus on… with film critic Franco Montini, every day at 19.00 in the Barion club.

On April 28 the Focus on… was dedicated to the winners of First and Second works. The awards for this competition were conferred in the evening of the same day in the Petruzzelli Theatre.

Cinema Lessons

A record number of nine Cinema Lessons took place every day at 11 a.m. from April 22 to 29.

Opening on April 22th at 11 in Petruzzelli Theatre was Andrei Konchalovsky, with a Master Class after the screening of his recent film, Paradise. On the next day there was actor and film director Alessandro Gassmann who, after the screening of Il nome del figlio by Francesca Archibugi, also talked about his father Vittorio, to whom the festival dedicated a large retrospective. On the 24th it was the turn of actress Greta Scacchi, following the screening of The Player by Robert Altman, and on the 25th of film director Pupi Avati, after his film Una gita scolastica. On the 26th film directors Carlo and Enrico Vanzina commemorated their father and great director Steno, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, of whom the festival presented Un giorno in pretura. The master of thriller films Dario Argento, after the screening of his newly 4K restored Suspiria, held his Cinema Lesson on April 27th, and actress Fanny Ardant together with Margarethe von Trotta engaged in a joint conversation on the 28th, after the screening of von Trotta’s Paura e amore (Three Sisters). The great actor and producer Jacques Perrin, to whom Bif&st dedicated the program “Cinema and Science”, was on stage on the 29th after the screening of Il deserto dei tartari by Valerio Zurlini, produced by Jacques Perrin and starring, besides Perrin, Vittorio Gassman and Philippe Noiret. The Academy Award winner Volker Schlöndorff closed the Cinema Lessons, in the afternoon of April 29th, after the screening of his film Return to Montauk, selected in the International Premières, absolute Italian première.

Master Classes in the Petruzzelli Theatre – with a daily average audience of over a thousand people – were coordinated by Enrico Magrelli, Marco Spagnoli, Maurizio Di Rienzo, David Grieco, Franco Montini.

Federico Fellini Platinum Award for Cinematic Excellence

The Awards were conferred by Margarethe von Trotta and Felice Laudadio to Andrej Konchalovskij (April 22), Pupi Avati (24), Sabrina Ferilli (25), Carlo and Enrico Vanzina (26), Dario Argento (27), Volker Schlöndorff (28), Jacques Perrin (29).

Cinema and Science

with the patronage of CNR – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and of INGV – Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

In the Tribute dedicated to the great actor and producer Jacques Perrin – a program coordinated by Orsetta Gregoretti with the collaboration of Silvia Mattoni – the festival presented some of the films directed and/or produced by him, related to environment and wildlife. These films have been greatly successful, also thanks to their release on tv, dvd, blu-ray, YouTube. At the end of each screening there was be a talk with scientists and cultural personalities, introduced by Silvia Mattoni, of CNR and presently coordinator of INGV communication office:

• LE PEUPLE SINGE by Gérard Vienne, narrator Michel Piccoli, 1989
  + talk with ethologist Enrico Alleva (April 22)
• MICROCOSMOS: LE PEUPLE DE L’HERBE by Claude Nurisdany and Marie Pérennou, 1996
  + talk with zoologist Roberto Argano (24)
• LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, 2001
  + talk with ornithologist Fulvio Fraticelli (25)
• OCÉANS by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, 2011
  + talk with the director of CNR Bio-Sciences and Bio-Resources Institute, Domenico Pignone (26)
• LES SAISONS by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, 2015
  + talk with climatologist Antonio Navarra (27)
• L’EMPIRE DU MILIEU DU SUD by Jacques Perrin and Eric Deroo, 2010
  + talk with Ugo Gregoretti and Jacques Perrin (28, for “Cinema and History”)

The section “Cinema and Science” was completed, in the afternoon of April 23, by an additional special event dedicated to the dreadful work of identification of the bodies of migrants fished out in the Mediterranean Sea. An operation coordinated by anatomist-pathologist prof. Cristina Cattaneo, who was in Bari to discuss the issue with Giuseppe De Mola of Médecins Sans Frontières and Michele Emiliano, introduced by Franco Marozzi, right after the screening of LAMERICA by Gianni Amelio.

Special Events and Tributes

1. On the 80th anniversary of the death date of Antonio Gramsci, who the fascists imprisoned for many years in Turi near Bari, the festival presented on April 28 four films, in collaboration with the Fondazione Gramsci chaired by prof. Giuseppe Vacca:

• ANTONIO GRAMSCI – I GIORNI DEL CARCERE by Lino Del Fra, Italy 1977
• NEL MONDO GRANDE E TERRIBILE by Daniele Maggioni, Laura Perilli, Maria Grazia Perria with Corrado Giannetti, Anita Kravos, Italy 2017
• GRAMSCI 44 by Emiliano Barbucci, Italy 2015
• NEW YORK E IL MISTERO DI NAPOLI – VIAGGIO NEL MONDO DI GRAMSCI by Gianni Amico and Giorgio Baratta with Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Italy 1993.

After the screening of NEL MONDO GRANDE E TERRIBILE, Franco Cassano, Piero Di Siena, Giuseppe Vacca – introduced by David Grieco – commemorated Gramsci.

1. In memory of  Maria Pia Fusco, screenwriter, journalist and longtime collaborator of Bif&st, on April 25 the festival presented a film scripted by her together with Ennio De Concini and Tinto Brass:

• SALON KITTY by Tinto Brass, Italy 1975

1. Other Special Events:

• CRONACA DI UNA PASSIONE by Fabrizio Cattani with Bruno Zanin, Valeria Ciangottini, Vittorio Viviani, Italy 2016
• MOLLY BLOOM by and with Chiara Caselli, Italy 2016
• URLI E RISVEGLI by Nicola Ragone, Italy 2017, world première
• MAESTRO by Alexandre Valenti with Francesco Lotoro, Italy 2017
• SCIUSCIÀ ‘70 by Mimmo Verdesca, Italy 2016, followed by the screening of
• SCIUSCIÀ by Vittorio De Sica, Italy 1945
• LA RAGAZZA DEI MIEI SOGNI by Saverio Di Biagio with Primo    Reggiani, NicolasVaporidis, Miriam Giovannelli, Chiara Gensini, Italy 2017, world première.

1. 4.    In the Tributes program the following films were presented:

Tribute to Andrej Konchalovskij

• MARIA’S LOVERS by Andrej Konchalovskij, USA 1984
• RUNAWAY TRAIN by Andrej Konchalovskij, USA 1985
• PARADISE by Andrej Konchalovskij, Russia-Germany 2016

Tribute to Alessandro Gassmann

• ALESSANDRO GASSMAN. ESSERE RICCARDO… E GLI ALTRI by Giancarlo Scarchilli, Italy 2013
• I NOSTRI RAGAZZI by Ivano De Matteo, Italy 2014
• IL NOME DEL FIGLIO by Francesca Archibugi, Italy 2015

Tribute to Greta Scacchi

• GOOD MORNING BABILONIA by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy 1987
• THE PLAYER by Robert Altman, USA 1992

Tribute to Pupi Avati

• UNA GITA SCOLASTICA by Pupi Avati, Italy 1983
• REGALO DI NATALE by Pupi Avati, Italy 1985
• IL TESTIMONE DELLO SPOSO by Pupi Avati, Italy 1997
• IL PAPÀ DI GIOVANNA by Pupi Avati, Italy 2008

Tribute to Sabrina Ferilli

• LA BELLA VITA by Paolo Virzì, Italy 1984
• DIARIO DI UN VIZIO by Marco Ferreri, Italy 1993
• IO E LEI by Maria Sole Tognazzi, Italy 2015

Tribute to Dario Argento

• SUSPIRIA by Dario Argento, Italy 1977
• QUATTRO MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO by Dario Argento, Italy, 1971

Tribute to Steno

• UN GIORNO IN PRETURA by Steno, Italy 1953

Tribute to Volker Schlöndorff

• DER JUNGE TÖRLESS by Volker Schlöndorff, Germany 1966
• DEATH OF A SALESMAN by Volker Schlöndorff, USA 1985
• DIPLOMACY by Volker Schlöndorff, France-Germany 2014
• RETURN TO MONTAUK by Volker Schlöndorff, Germany-France 2017

Tribute to Fanny Ardant

• LA FEMME D’À CÔTÉ by François Truffaut, France 1981
• LA VIE EST UN ROMAN by Alain Resnais, France 1983
• BENVENUTA by André Delvaux, Belgium-France 1984
• PAURA E AMORE (Three Sisters) by Margarethe von Trotta, Italy-France-Germany 1986
• LA CENA by Ettore Scola, Italy-France 1998
• L’ODORE DEL SANGUE by Mario Martone, Italy-France 2004
• CALLAS FOREVER by Franco Zeffirelli, Italy-France 2002

Tribute to Jacques Perrin

• LA RAGAZZA CON LA VALIGIA by Valerio Zurlini, Italy-France 1961
• Z, L’ORGIA DEL POTERE by Costa-Gavras, France-Algeria 1969
• IL DESERTO DEI TARTARI by Valerio Zurlini, Italy-France-Germany 1976
• NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO by Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy 1988

Tribute to Carlo Di Palma

• ACQUA E ZUCCHERO by Fariborz Kamkari, Italy 2016

Meetings

In collaboration with La Feltrinelli bookshop and its director Giovanni Bello each day at 5 p.m. from April 22 to 29 a total of six meetings took place, dedicated to the work of Vittorio Gassman and Dino Risi, to whom the festival dedicated large and intertwined retrospectives, organized with the precious collaboration of: CSC-Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale, RAI Teche – who made available many audiovisual materials – and Luce Cinecittà who curated 20 “pills” from its valuable Archives. French film critic Jean Gili coordinated these meetings, with the participation of Paola Gassman and of Claudio Risi, and also of Antonio Catania, Rita Cirio, Paolo D’Agostini, Caterina D’Amico, Steve Della Casa, Fabrizio Deriu, Maurizio Micheli, Andrea Occhipinti, Giancarlo Scarchilli, Pamela Villoresi.

Film critic and historian Paolo Mereghetti, introduced by Franco Montini, presented on April 22 in La Feltrinelli bookshop his book Il Mereghetti – Dizionario dei film 2017.

On the 50th anniversary of the death date of prince De Curtis, Totò, Bif&st commemorated on April 25 the greatest comedian of Italian cinema and theatre, with the presentation of the books Totalmente Totò by Alberto Anile and Vita di Totò by Ennio Bispuri, introduced by Jean Gili.

Music in the eyes – Remembering Nino Rota

Being the 8½ edition of Bif&st, the festival remembered the work of one of the greatest Italian composers, author of almost all of the scores of Federico Fellini’s films, and also longtime director of Bari’s Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory: Nino Rota. The program – curated by Maestro Rino Marrone –presented various excerpts of Rota’s music, played by several musicians, opening the evenings in the Petruzzelli Theatre.

Workshops on Film editing and Theatre

Following the positive experience in the past 8 years, a workshop for selected film editors was dedicated to Image and sound headed by the great editor Roberto Perpignani.

University teachers and other experts took part in the workshop, among them: Alessandro Laterza, Paolo Ponzio, Angela Bianca Saponari, Federico Zecca.
A second workshop was headed by theatre director Francesco Giuffré, focusing on a theatre adaption of Crime and Punishment by Fëdor Dostoevskij. At the end five young actors (three men and two women), after 20 days of rehearsal, staged the play in collaboration with Teatro Pubblico Pugliese chaired by Carmelo Grassi. With this show Francesco Giuffrè recently won the “Rita Sala Award”, created in memory of the late theatre critic of daily Il Messaggero.

Each workshop – promoted by SIAE and coordinated by Angela Bianchi Saponari – was reserved to 30 young people selected by the artistic direction.

Conferences

1. Fondazione Apulia Film Commission illustrated on April 26, at 3 p.m. in the Barion club, its activities and its funds for cinema and audiovisual projects in Apulia.
2. “Creative Europe MEDIA subprogramme and the animation sector”, with Enrico Bufalini, Chiara Fortuna, Maurizio Sciarra and Andrea Coluccia took place on April 28, Palazzo Ex Poste, Sala 1, 3 p.m.

3. The presentation of ACMF-Associazione Compositori Musiche da Film was in the Barion club on April 28, at  3.30 p.m.

History/Memory – Festival Vittorio Gassman – Dino Risi, intertwined retrospective

Bif&st and CSC-Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale – with RAI Teche and Istituto Luce Cinecittà – presented a very large Tribute dedicated to Vittorio Gassman and Dino Risi, curated by Felice Laudadio with the collaboration of Orsetta Gregoretti. The festival screened 34 films starring Gassman, 12 of which directed by Risi, besides many audiovisual materials from the archives of RAI Teche and Luce, and with documentaries on the two artists.

All around the Petruzzelli Theatre the Cineteca Nazionale of CSC-Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia organized a large photo exhibition on Vittorio Gassman, with 100 blowups.

Reparations – DIAZ – DON’T CLEAN UP THIS BLOOD – April 25, 2017

On March 24, 2012, Bif&st presented, as opening film and world première, Diaz by Daniele Vicari, produced by Domenico Procacci ‘s Fandango. The film was greeted with applauses and dismay. And many debates, against the film (and also against the festival). The film reenacted the violence in 2001 in Genoa against G8 protesters, when many of them were taken to police headquarters and tortured. On April 6, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights has sentenced the State of Italy to reimburse some of the victims of violence and torture. On April 25 Bif&st presented again the film by Vicari and Procacci, to highlight the legislative absence in Italy of torture crime, as described in the United Nations Convention 28 years ago.

THE REGENI CASE

On April 26, at 7.45 p.m., in Multiplex Galleria no. 1 (rerun on the next day, same theatre and hour) the festival presented the documentary:

• NOVE GIORNI AL CAIRO. TORTURA E OMICIDIO DI GIULIO REGENI

A report by Carlo Bonini and Giuliano Foschini. Written by Diana Ligorio. Images and editing by Alain Zika and Alessandro D’Elia. Executive producer Laura Guglielmetti. Produced by La Repubblica and 42° Parallelo.

Bif&st 2017 Attendance

As in past editions, many Italian and foreign film directors attended Bif&st 2017, chaired by Margarethe von Trotta and directed by Felice Laudadio.

Among actresses and actors in Bari:

Francesco Acquaroli (Alberto Sordi Award), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Anna Magnani Award), Claudia Cardinale, Renato Carpentieri, Andrea Carpenzano, Chiara Caselli (International Panorama jury president), Antonio Catania, Fortunato Cerlino, Giorgio Colangeli, Sabrina Ferilli (Federico Fellini Award), Stefano Fresi, Alessandro Gassmann (Cinema Lessons), Paola Gassman, Elio Germano, Corrado Giannelli, Giancarlo Giannini, Leopoldo Mastelloni, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Maurizio Micheli, Andrea Occhipinti, Micaela Ramazzotti, Primo Reggiani, Michele Riondino, Barbara Ronchi (Premio Alida Valli), Paolo Rossi, Ninì Salerno, Greta Scacchi (Cinema Lessons), Riccardo Scamarcio (Vittorio Gassman Award), Federico Tolardo, Pamela Villoresi, Nicolas Vaporidis, Vittorio Viviani.

Among film directors:

Gianni Amelio, Francesca Archibugi (Luciano Vincenzoni Award), Fanny Ardant and Dario Argento and Pupi Avati (Cinema Lessons and Federico Fellini Award), Alessandro Aronadio, Davide Barletti, Francesco Bruni, Maccio Capatonda, Fabrizio Cattani, Lorenzo Conte, Toni D’Angelo, Edoardo De Angelis, Andrea De Sica, Irene Dionisio, Alan Gilsenan, Claudio Giovannesi (Mario Monicelli Award), Francesco Giuffré (Theatre workshop), Ugo Gregoretti, Fariborz Kamakari, Andrej Konchalovskij (Cinema Lesson and Federico Fellini Award), Daniele Maggioni, Fabio Mollo, Giuliano Montaldo, Goran Paskaljevic, Jacques Perrin (Cinema Lesson and Federico Fellini Award), Louis-Julien Petit, Pif (Pierfrancesco Diliberto), Antonio Pisu, Nicola Ragone, Claudio Risi, Giancarlo Scarchilli, Volker Schlöndorff (Cinema Lesson and Federico Fellini Award), Alexandre Valenti, Carlo Vanzina, Mimmo Verdesca, Daniele Vicari.

And also: press agent Enrico Lucherini (Cinema Lesson), musicians Enzo Avitabile (Ennio Morricone Award), Andrea Guerra, Lele Marchitelli, Pivio, Giuliano Taviani, producers Claudio Bonivento, Ivan Brienza, Adriana Chiesa, Roberto Cicutto, Tilde Corsi, Massimo Cristaldi, Gianluca Curti, Attilio De Razza and Pier Paolo Verga (Franco Cristaldi Award), Elda Ferri, Elisabetta Olmi, Domenico Procacci, Massimo Spano, costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini (Piero Tosi Award), set designer Marco Dentici (Dante Ferretti Award), screenwriters Nicola Guaglianone, Valentino Picone and Fabrizio Testini (Tonino Guerra Award), Antonio Manca, Silvia Scola, Enrico Vanzina, directors of photography Rocco Marra (Giuseppe Rotunno Award) and Luciano Tovoli, film editors Roberto Perpignani and Marco Spoletini (Roberto Perpignani Award), film critics and historians Alberto Anile, Ennio Bispuri, Franco Cassano, Paolo D’Agostini, Caterina D’Amico, Steve Della Casa, Fabrizio Deriu, Piero Di Siena, Paolo Mereghetti, Giuseppe Vacca.

Among Bif&st special events the one dedicated to “Cinema and Science”  – under the patronage of CNR and ING – saw a large attendance thanks to the presence of eminent scientists such as Enrico Alleva, Roberto Argano, Fulvio Fraticelli, Domenico Pignone, Antonio Navarra; and also Franco Marozzi, Giuseppe De Mola of Médécins Sans Frontières and anatomist-pathologist prof. Cristina Cattaneo who was been working for years on the identification of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Barion Club has been the new location – being the traditional one, Margherita Theatre, under renovation – for all press conferences at 1 pm, the afternoon meetings on Vittorio Gassman, Dino Risi and Totò, coordinated by the great French critic Jean Gili, and for the Focus On… at 7 pm – animated by Franco Montini, president of the National union of Italian film critics, always very crowded – with the participation of the awarded cinema personalities.

Most of the festival events were with free entrance.

Bif&st 2017 registered an audience of 75,000 people, including ticket buyers and accreditated professionals, at all screenings, events, exhibitions included in the program. And media coverage was very large (dailies, tv, radio, and especially on the web, as in all great international festivals).

Felice Laudadio

Artistic Director