Milano Film Festival
September 12 - 21, 2008
The Milano Film Festival was established in 1996 and has two main competitions - for feature and short films. The festival gives special attention to young filmmakers who are able to experiment with any aspect of the filmmaking process. The programme includes also out-of-competition screenings, focus, and other side events. The Democratic Film Exchange is a film market that takes place at the time of the festival, and aims to bring together filmmakers and industry professionals.
Sections:
Feature Film Competition
Short Film Competition
The Imagination of Doctor Gilliam
State (T)error
Gypsy Movies
Focus on Animation
Soundoc
Godless America
Italian Get-togethers
Movi(e)ng Cities
(Un)common People
and more...
All films included in the Feature Film Competition:
Still Orangutans - dir. Gustavo Spolidoro, Brazil, 2007, 35mm, 81'
The Murderer Among Us - dir. Daniel Benavides, Chile, 2007, DV, 83'
Ballast - dir. Lance Hammer, USA, 2008, 35mm, 96'
Involuntary - dir. Ruben Ostlund, Sweden, 2008, 35mm, 98'
Fujian Blue - dir. Weng Shou-ming, China, 2007, 35mm, 91'
Slow Mirror - dir. Igor and Ivan Buharov, Hungary, 2007, 35mm, 86'
Peace With Seals - dir. Miloslav Novák, Czech Republic/Italy, 2007, 16mm, 86'
Mermaid - dir. Anna Melikyan, Russia, 2007, 35mm, 115'
Blood Appears - dir. Pablo Fendrik, Argentina/France/Germany, 2008, 35mm, 100'
Lost Holiday - dir. Lucie Králová, Czech Republic/China/Sweden, 2007, 35mm, 84'
Screenings:
Peace with Seals:
Sun, September 14 - 22.30, Teatro Studio
Wed, September 17 - 15.00, Teatro Strehler
Lost Holiday:
Sat, September 13 - 17.30, Teatro Strehler
Thu, September 18 - 20.30, Teatro Strehler
PEACE WITH SEALS
Czech Republic, Italy / 2007 / 96 min.
Director: Miloslav Novák
Script: Ferdinand Pitrosu
Script editor: Jan Gogola ml.
Cinematography: Jakub Halousek, Emanuele Coppola
Editor: Adam Brothánek
Sound: Martin Ženíšek, Zdeněk Taubler
Music: Nino Rota
Production design: Helena Rosová, Massimo Demma
International co-prod.: 12 Opic / Panda Film / Česká televize / Avion / FAMU
Support: Eurimages / Státní fond pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie
Sales: Bontonfilm (ČR) & Rai Trade (Itálie)
An essay, "when a man stops to be a man….and becomes a seal." A story about the transition of "human nature" happening against the backdrop of two stories. The first story describes the fate of a seal, Gaston, who, according to the Prague Zoo director, became "the most famous animal on the planet," after he swam all the way to Germany during the devastating floods of 2002. The second story happened 50 years earlier and describes the fate of a young seal, Odysseus, who was caught in Sardinia by a rich journalist who released him afterwards, in front of TV cameras, in the famous Trevi Fountain.
LOST HOLIDAY
Czech Republic, 2007, 84 min
Director: Lucie Králová
Screenplay: Lucie Králová
Cinematography: Tomáš Stanek, Braňo Pažitka
Music: Petra Gavlasová
Editor: Jakub Hejna
Producer: Martin Řezníček
Production: DOCUfilm Praha
Sales: DOCUfilm Praha
A documentary detective story. Lada, a Czech traveller, finds by chance a dirty suitcase in a Swedish waste bin. It contains only a very carefully packed plastic bag full of film rolls. Lada takes all of the 22 film rolls home to Prague and has them developed. There are 756 fascinating photos from a trip of seven Asian men, probably from China. Lost Holiday tells the story of the search for these unknown tourists, based only on the lost photographs. We would like to give the photos back to them. And so the unknown men from Asia become guides on our exciting journey as we search through the lost photos and also for the nature of contemporary man.
Lucie Králová attended the East European Forum, Ex Oriente Film, and last year she presented her project Lost Holiday at Docu Talents from the East.