The 19th edition of the "Al Ard Film Festival" kicks off on Tuesday 21 February, the film festival that every year presents dozens of films by Palestinian, Arab, Italian and international authors. The appointment is at the Teatro Massimo in Cagliari, with the organization of the Associazione Culturale Amicizia Sardegna Palestina ODV, financial contribution from the Region of Sardinia, the collaboration of the University of Cagliari and the Humane Society - Cineteca Sarda, and with the patronage of Municipality of Cagliari.
The program was presented in the council chamber in the presence of the president Edoardo Tocco; Mariangela Pedditzi of the Cultural Association Amicizia Sardegna Palestina ODV; Antonello Zanda, director of the Cineteca Umanitaria Sarda; Maria Paola Fanni, president of the FICC; Patrizia Manduchi, professor at the University of Cagliari; Franca Piras, former teacher and expert on the Arab world.
«There will be five evenings, from 21 to 25 February, with screenings, meetings with Sardinian and international directors who will also be present in the hall this year, debates, events in schools and much more. Film screenings will take place every day from 4 to 10 pm, interspersed with meetings with the many guests who will be present at the event this year - explained Mariangela Pedditzi - We received over one hundred films from 30 countries including Italy, Lebanon , Jordan, France, Spain, Netherlands, Iraq, Germany, United Kingdom . Of these, the examining Commission has selected thirty-one, of which seven will be awarded in the final evening».
«The Jury of the Festival is made up of cinema experts and international directors: Monica Maurer (godmother of the Festival, German director and documentary maker), Andrea Mura (Sardinian director and documentary maker), Patrizia Manduchi (professor at the University of Cagliari), Filippo Kalomenidis (writer and screenwriter), Antonello Zanda (Director of the Sardinian film library), Franca Gabriella Piras (former professor at the University of Cagliari), Wasim Dahmash (former Palestinian professor at the University of Cagliari and translator), Ibrahim Nasrallah (Palestinian writer and poet), Almohannad Alkhatoum (Syrian director ), and May Odeh (Palestinian director and producer)," Pedditzi added.
«The festival is a kind of thermometer of all Arab issues seen through the eyes of directors and cinema – underlined Antonello Zanda -. Al Ard Film Festival is now a festival also known internationally thanks to the constant commitment of the association».
«The screenings of the Festival are always preceded by preparatory meetings with university students on the themes of the films – explained Patrizia Manduchi -. It is truly a miracle that this festival is so long-lived, it is not taken for granted and they are often boycotted realities".
"We have long had a friendship with the Sardinia-Palestine Association - commented Maria Paola Fanni - these meetings with schools are very important to really understand the reasons".
THE PROGRAM – On 21 February at 5.30 pm we begin with the short film "Warsha", by the Lebanese director Dania Bdeir, followed by "The Silent Protest: 1929" by the Jerusalem-based director and researcher Mahasen Nasser, professor at the Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture of Bethlehem, which will meet the public at the end of the screening. Immediately after, “Last May in Palestine” by Palestinian documentary filmmaker Rabeea Eid, also a guest of the Al Ard Festival, will be screened.
All the selected works speak of otherwise invisible realities, such as those that illuminate the case of the Egyptian boys who made the 2011 revolution and are now in exile or in Egyptian prisons ("Ethbet!" by Matteo Ferrarini, Wednesday 22 February, 6.15pm) or the situation in Libya seen from the inside and from the particular angle of an Italian journalist (“Tellingmy Son's Land by Ilaria Jovine” by Roberto Mariotti, Friday 24 February at 4pm); or even those set in Tunisia that tell the story of women's struggles for equality (“Women Hold Up Half” the Sky by Mariam Shahine George Azar, Friday 24 February at 7.50pm).
And again the Palestinian themes (such as "Yalla" by Carlo D'Ursi, Tuesday 21 February at 20.20), "Not Just Your Picture -The Story of the Kilani Family" by Anne Paq and Dror Dayan, Thursday 23 February at 18.50, " Behind the Fence” by Tamara Abu Laban, Wednesday 22 February at 5pm).
The novelty of this edition is the column dedicated to the theme of the Earth (Sa Terra) which hosts Sardinian directors who have made themed films and shorts: the section will be opened by director Salvatore Mereu with "Bentu" on 21 February at 20.40, followed by by Alberto Diana with "red mud" on 23 February at 8.15 pm. The director Tomaso Mannoni concludes with "The wash" February 25 at 19.30.
On Wednesday 22 February 2023, at 8.30, the annual appointment with "Palestine in the chair" returns, a meeting reserved for over 200 high school students. Friday 23 February, at 11.30, in the Antas Teatro headquarters in San Sperate, round table between directors and cultural associations to talk about the relationship between cinema and the territory where local artists and foreign directors will discuss the theme of cinema today and culture in all round.
The final evening of 25 February 2023 will see the awarding of the winning films. There are 7 prizes that will be awarded during the evening: best documentary, best emerging director, best film on Palestine, best short-documentary, best short-fiction, the prize awarded by the public and the prize awarded by the Sardegna Palestina association which this he year is dedicated to the memory of Ghassan Kanafani.
Also on February 25, the "Status quo" concert by singer-songwriter Jowan Safadi will take place.
Admission is free and free and it is not necessary to book.
(Unioneonline/ss)