The first edition of the Milano Film Festival is set to kick off

The first edition of the Milano Film Festival will take place between 3 and 8 June, debuting with over 110 titles in its programme, with artistic direction from Claudio Santamaria. “This first edition wants to be a cultural manifesto for the city and beyond,” declared the actor awarded for Romanzo criminale and They Call Me Jeeg, “with a clear political and urban message: a spark of the future can be born in any place, any citizen can create culture, from the neighbourhoods furthest away from the centre to performance venues. It isn’t a coincidence that one of the novelties has that name, ‘Scintille’, ‘sparks’, a project that will bring cinema to the nine municipalities of Milan for free, with evening screenings and encounters with characters. We are convinced that cinema, like the arts and crafts that create magic in theatres or on all the screens we use, can create community ties. It is for that reason that the festival intends to relaunch a collective vision, one that is born from surprise and stupor but then arrives at dialogue between different people”. The poster indeed announces films, concerts, talks and meetings between professionals and students.

Inaugurating this first edition will be the international premiere of June & John by French filmmaker Luc Besson, which will be distributed in Italy by Movies Inspired. The closing of the festival is entrusted to the body horror fable The Ugly Stepsister, Emilie Blichfeldt’s debut film and the fruit of a collaboration between Norway, Poland, Switzerland and Denmark, selected in the Panorama section at the latest Berlinale after premiering in Sundance (Italian distribution by I Wonder).

The 10 international features in competition will be judged by American actor and director James Franco with actress and filmmaker Margherita Buy, actor Francesco Di Leva, actress and dramaturg Isabella Ragonese, and director and screenwriter Claudio Giovannesi. Amongst those, we find Ancestral Visions of the Future (France/Lesotho/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia) by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, which reflects on dislocation and belonging, while in Arenas (France) by Camille Perton, the dark side of the world of football reveals itself. Boléro, the latest film by Anne Fontaine (France/Belgium), delves into the world of composer Maurice Ravel. A novelist struggling to assist her anxious mother is the protagonist of Four Mothers (Ireland/United Kingdom) by Darren Thornton, openly inspired by Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio. Set in Bruxelles, Heads or Fails (Belgium/France) by Lenny and Harpo Guit follows Armande who struggles to get by because she can’t stop herself from betting on anything, while Marmalade (United Kingdom) by Keir O’Donnell (distribution in Italy by Movies Inspired) talks about imprisonment and evasion.

Finally, Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (Philippes/Singapore/Italy) by Petersen Vargas takes place in the Manila night swarming with possibilities and danger, and Blazing Fists by Takashi Miike (Japan) takes us amongst martial arts fighters and juvenile reformatories.

Amongst the special events, the visual and musical experience of Dawn in the West by Frankie Caradonna; Bare Hands (in cinemas from 5 June via Medusa) by Mauro Mancini on clandestine extreme fights; the delicate My Everything – presented in competition at the latest Venice Film Festival – by French director and screenwriter Anne-Sophie Bailly; the premiere of the new episode in the Happiness Project: Esmeralda – La leggenda dei minatori colombiani.

Camillo De Marco – Cineuropa