After long months of waiting, the film festival is finally starting at the Espace Magnan. Last night at 9 PM, the opening ceremony began with a bang with the feature film “La pecora nera” by Ascanio Celestini.
It’s a big day for Espace Magnan, as the Italian Film Festival finally opens its doors. This year, eight films are in competition to win the Garibaldi Prize, which for the first time will be accompanied by a financial grant. In addition to these, many supplementary films, non-competitive but equally interesting, will also be showcased.
Opening Ceremony:
Before the screening of the film, Joël BAYEN-SAUNERES, the person responsible for the programming, thanked the numerous partners that have allowed the festival to endure over the years. There are three “important” films: “La pecora nera“, by Ascanio Celestini (screened in the evening), “L’uomo che verra” by Giorgio Diritti, and “Sette opere di misericordia” by Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio. All three have seen great success in Italy and have been awarded at many festivals (Annecy, Grenoble, Rome…). Certainly, these are the “star” films of the Italian Film Days, but we still have to see what the other five films have in store. It will be up to the three jury members to decide.
The Dante Alighieri Association:
Among the partners, the Nice committee of the Dante Alighieri Association stands out for providing the financial grant for the Garibaldi Prize. Its aim is to promote the Italian language and culture throughout the department. The president, Catherine Coletti, was present for this first evening and expressed her enthusiasm for “this quality event” and its “excellent programming”.
The association has existed for three years and includes two centers in Nice: the first is dedicated to professional training, and the second allows registration for PLIDIA, the Italian language equivalent of TOEFL.
La Pecora Nera.
It is the first film by promising filmmaker Ascanio Celestini, a former TV comedian turned film director. He plays the lead role, Nicola.
The story of Nicola, 35 years old, born in the ’60s, “the fabulous ’60s”. Throughout these years, he has lived in a mental asylum run by nuns. The world he perceives there is not very different from the outside reality. On several occasions, Nicola is confronted with the outside world through multiple trips to the supermarket with one of the center’s nuns. Throughout the film, we witness some flashbacks of the character’s past, which reveal more about his peculiar and enigmatic personality.
The film cleverly blends humor and drama through Nicola’s life, his childhood, and his present in the asylum. All we can say is that we are captivated from the first minutes in the company of this man and his madness. An omnipresent voiceover guides the viewer into the tortured mind of the insane, his actions, and his wildly accurate vision of the world around him. Excellent actors, quality dialogues, and a suspenseful plot that holds attention for the one and a half hours of the film. In short, a slam like rarely experienced in cinema.
This first day promises great surprises for the rest of the Festival as well as great moments of cinema.
