8th Lecce Festival of European Cinema

International guests, top quality movies, unique retrospective and convention about Theo Angelopoulos. The 8th edition confirms that the Lecce festival has grown up. From its beginning, in 1999, it has evolved to a mature European range festival. The first clues were in the guest list. Thanks to their movies and careers, names such as Valeria Golino, Angelopoulos himself, Fabrizio Gifuni, Valentina Cervi and Claudio Santamaria embodied the international aim of the festival. Beyond any expectation, the incredibly warm welcome from the growing audience surprised the organization itself. Following the example of Cannes, Venice and Berlin, the keyword was “balance”: a winning mix of glamour, quality and investigation, which managed in a transversal appeal. Younger people came for the stars and assaulted Valeria Golino and her boyfriend-teen idol Riccardo Scamarcio. Their parents had the chance to rediscover titles from the past years such as “Against the Wind” by Peter Del Monte, “Storia d’amore” by Francesco Maselli, and “Things you can tell just by looking at her” by Rodrigo Garcia, that she selected herself. The best was the wide offer for critics and trained moviegoers, who had the chance to take a glance on the contemporary trends of European cinema. Ten films in the official selection, which confirmed the growth of the competition and opened windows on cultures and human experiences, to keep always in mind. A very difficult task for the international jury, headed by Saverio Costanzo, the acclaimed director of movies such as Private and In Memory of Myself, which was forced to split the prize between the Norwegian Reprise by Joachim Trier and the German-Slovenian Warchild by Christian Wagner. The FIPRESCI jury awarded The Art of Crying by Peter Schønau Fog, while the choice of The italian Movie Journalists Union (SNGC) was meaningful and multicultural: best European actress to the Portuguese Maria De Medeiros and the Slovakian Antonia Liskova, for the Italian Riparo, on the delicate topic of immigration. The highlight of the festival was the touching hommage to the Greek director Theo Angelopoulos: not only a tribute by the National Movie Critics Union (SNCCI), but also the chance to rediscover masterpieces such as The Travelling Players (O thiasos) and many others. (Marina Sanna)