Two exhibits, a series of encounters and a conference on meditation, art and economy scheduled
The complete retrospective of the American Director’s films from September 28th to October 3rd, 2014
Directors John Boorman and Julio Bressane among the special guests.
Actor Enrique Irazoqui (Pasolini’s Jesus Christ) also attending.
In a National premiere, the exhibit showcases 60 photographs and lithographs by David Lynch, present in Lucca
Director David Lynch, the American screenwriter, producer, painter, musician and writer, will be the guest of honor of the 10th edition of the Lucca Film Festival, the international film festival that will be held in the Tuscan town from September 28 to October 3, 2014. As of this year, the Festival directed by Nicola Borrelli has become one of the flagship events among those organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The Lucca Film Festival also enjoys the support of Banca Generali, the Region of Tuscany, the City of Lucca, the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, with the collaboration of the Province of Lucca.
The Festival
The tenth edition will host David Lynch and focus on his artistic journey that weaves together cinema, art, music and studies on Transcendental Meditation. This is Lynch’s first visit to Tuscany and the American director will be staying in Lucca from the 27th to the 30th of September. “Lynch” – states Borrelli – “has developed a new artistic style that stands out because of its surrealism, its dreamlike quality and because of the thoughts he is able to extract from the greatest depths of the mind. It is thanks to this style that Lynch has become a universal icon of the contemporary world”. The festival renders homage to the American film director and in the past it has paid tribute to other great masters of cinema: Peter Greenaway, Philippe Garrel, Abel Ferrara, Tsai Ming-liang, Paolo Taviani, Lou Castel and György Pálfi, just to name a few.
Among this edition’s special guests, famous English filmmaker John Boorman; Brazilian Maestro of experimental cinema Julio Bressane and actor, economist, literary critic Enrique Irazoqui, known to the public for having starred as Jesus Christ in The Gospel According to St. Matthew by Pier Paolo Pasolini, a film that this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of its release.
This year’s edition features two new additions. The section “Video clips. A new form of cinema” is a tribute to the world of music videos and presents a selection of the best works since 2000. The section “Words & Utopia. A sentimental atlas of cinema for the 21st century (from 2001 to 2013. Catastrophes included)” consists of a series of filmed conversations with 50 of the major contemporary film directors. During the Festival, the conversations with David Lynch and with Julio Bressane will be presented. As in past editions, the International Short Film Contest continues to bring cultures together. Twenty-six entries will be competing selected from more than a thousand submissions sent from all over the world. Finally, the section entitled Educational is a project dedicated to schools. During the festival, special screenings of documentaries and film classes for schools will be held every morning.
TheVenues of the Lucca Film Festival are: the Cinema Centrale (Via di Poggio Seconda 36), the Cinema Moderno (Via Vittorio Emanuele II), the Auditorium of S. Micheletto (via San Micheletto 2), the Auditorium of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca (Piazza San Martino 4), the Church of San Francesco and the Oratory of San Franceschetto.
Entrance fee for the entire Festival is 10 Euro. Tickets are available for purchase starting at 3 p.m. on Monday 29 September 2014 at the Cinema Centrale. Admission to events taking place in the Auditoriums is free of charge; seats are on a first come first serve basis.
Tribute to David Lynch (retrospective, exhibit and encounters)
In addition to a complete retrospective of his films, the 10th edition features a world premiere screening of three short films by David Lynch that have been recently restored by “Criterion”: The amputee, Six men getting sick and The alphabet. Scissors, also a short film by the American Director, will be shown for the first time in Italy. In addition to the film-screening program, the festival will present in a national premiere the major exhibition “David Lynch. Lost Visions. The Indiscreet Charm of Gaze “curated by Alessandro Romanini. The exhibit will run from September 20 to November 9 and take place at the new site of the State Archives. On display, 60 of Lynch’s artworks that capture the recurring themes, which have marked his most famous films, from Eraserhead to The Elephant Man, from Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, to Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, just to name a few. These works are on display for the first time in Italy. On SundaySeptember 28, the international conference “Transcendental Meditation: Awareness in Art and in Economy” will take place at the complex of San Micheletto with panelists Director David Lynch, Professor John Hagelin (President of the David Lynch Foundation), Professor Fabio Pammoli from IMT in Lucca and Pietro Pierini from the University of Pisa. Inauguration of the Lucca Film Festival will continue with an evening concert held at the Church of San Francesco, featuring a selection of music from David Lynch’s films. This event is organized in collaboration with the Conservatorio Luigi Boccherini of Lucca. Maestro Gianpaolo Mazzoli (Director of the Conservatory) will conduct the 45-element orchestra. Also scheduled for Sunday September 28 at the Oratory of San Franceschetto, the presentation of the installation “XXIV WAVES FOR PIANO SOLO – To David Lynch” by Massimo Salotti. The composer from Lucca has made a music CD dedicated to the American filmmaker entitled “XXIV WAVES FOR PIANO SOLO” and from that cd, an interactive sound installation was designed for the San Franceschetto, an oratory that will become a “theatrical space” during the days of the festival.
The tribute to David Lynch continues on Monday, 29 September with a morning lecture/conversation on Cinema held by the American director himself, Nicola Borrelli and Alessandro Romanini. That same day a special project entitled “Virtual Lucca Film Festival” will be presented. A group of students chosen by the Italian Ministry of Education created virtual versions of selected buildings in Lucca: the Oratory of San Franceschetto, the vaults of San Colombano’s stronghold fortress on the walls of Lucca, Piazza Anfiteatro, and other areas. Within those sites, students built an interactive multimedia path with music video clips directed by David Lynch. The project was born from the synergy and collaboration between the Lucca Film Festival and edMondo, a program of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research – the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research. On Monday evening at the Cinema Moderno, David Lynch will present his Mulholland Drive and receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Lucca Film Festival.
Tribute to John Boorman
The Festival renders homage to the famous English director John Boorman, who was born in Shepperton in 1933. In addition to screening his most significant films, Boorman will hold a cinema class on Thursday, October 2 in which he will explain the vision and ideas that led him to creating milestones of cinematography such as Point Blank, Deliverance and Excalibur. A special emphasis will be given to his collaboration with his daughter Katrine Boorman, also a guest at the Festival. Katrine starred in her father’s cult movies Zardoz, Excalibur and in Hope and Glory. She directed Me and Me Dad, a moving documentary about her relationship with her famous parent, which will be presented by the two filmmakers and screened during the festival. On the evening of Friday 3 October, closing day of the festival, John Boorman will receive a special Lifetime Achievement Award; the screening of his latest work, Queen and Country, will follow the award ceremony. Queen and Country was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2014 and has yet to be released in Italy. Boorman has directed seventeen feature films, as well as a series of short films and documentaries for television. In the course of his career, he has received numerous awards and accolades, including five Oscar nominations and two awards for Best Director at Cannes.
Tribute to Julio Bressane
The Brazilian master of experimental film has blended cinema and life with love for creativity, working with all types of film and video up to the digital format. In addition to the screening of Bressane’s works, the tribute features the Italian premiere presentation of his latest film Educação Sentimental. The gala evening with Bressane is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1; and on the morning of October 3, the Maestro will hold a lesson on cinema specifically for schools, but with free admission to all.
Tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini
On Thursday, October 2, the festival will pay a tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini. An event organized in collaboration with the Circolo del Cinema di Lucca (the second longest running film club in Italy boasting over 65 years of activity). Thanks to the cooperation with the Italian National Film Archive, The Gospel According to St. Matthew will be screened in its 35mm restored version on the 50th anniversary of its original release. Actors Ninetto Davoli and Enrique Irazoqui, who played Jesus Christ in The Gospel According to St. Matthew, have been invited to attend. The symbol par excellence of Pasolinian interpreters, Davoli is a great actor and one of the key characters who made Pasolini’s fortune. Enrique Irazoqui, whose image is inextricably linked to the era of protests and experimentation, made his cinematic debut in this film. The festival will pay a tribute to Irazoqui’s acting career by presenting his last film Noche de vino tinto in a national premiere.
The sections: “Video clips. A new form of cinema” and “Words & Utopia”
The sections “Video clips. A new form of cinema” and “Words & Utopia” are the two new additions of this year’s Lucca Film Festival. The first is a tribute dedicated to the world of the music video genre, to its history, its influences on cinema and to the work of great directors. “The music video has become increasingly a part our daily life, just like feature films. It represents a perfect mix of music, editing and quest for self-expression,” explains one of the organizers. The Festival will present a selection of the best works since 2000 and a retrospective with a guest director. The Video Clip evening gala is scheduled on Tuesday, September 30. “Words & Utopia. A sentimental atlas of cinema for the 21st century (from 2001 to 2013. Catastrophes included)” consists in a series of filmed conversations with 50 of the major contemporary film directors. The project began in 2001 and over the years has grown considerably: the archive now boasts about seventy filmed hours of conversation. Words & Utopia was originally conceived in a book format and was published in 2013 by the publishing house DeriveApprodi. The collection has become an extraordinary testimony of key figures in the history of modern cinema and continues to expand by adding new conversations with new filmmakers, as well as through the distribution of the book. Some conversations were presented as stand-alone episodes in different venues such as film libraries, film festivals, art galleries and on television the national Italian TV channel Rai 3, in the program Fuori Orario cose (mai) viste. During the Festival, the conversations with David Lynch and with Julio Bressane will be presented.
The project EDUCATIONAL. Educational is one of the sections of the Festival geared to involving schools in the Lucca area. The events described below will take place every morning in the Auditorium of S. Micheletto and the Auditorium of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca: The planned activities are: “Cinema&Musica” (Movies & Music) a lesson held by musician Andrea Fascetti (Tuesday, 30 September); screening of the documentary “Educazione affettiva” (Affective Education) by Clemente Bicocchi and Federico Bondi (the director will be present on Tuesday 30 September); “La memoria degli ultimi” (The memory of the last) by Samuele Rossi in the presence of the director and the partisan Giorgio Vecchiani (Wednesday, 1 October); “Segna con me” (Sign with me) by Silvia Bencivelli. Followed by an encounter with the director and with the star of the documentary Chiara Tarfano (Thursday, 2 October). The cinema lessons for schools held by guest artists David Lynch, John Boorman and Julio Bressane are also a part of this section ((admission is free and open to all).
International Short Film Contest. This year the Lucca Film Festival presents the 10th edition of the International Experimental Short Film Contest. Twenty-six short films were selected out of 1000 entries submitted from all over the world. Among the selected filmmakers Adan Jodorowsky, competing with The voice thief starring Asia Argento; Max Hattler, one of today’s most important and internationally renowned video artists; Sergio Caballero, artistic director and deputy director of Sonar, the music and new media festival of Barcelona, competing with a very peculiar and undoubtedly fascinating short-film, Ancha es castilla / N’importe quoi, and many other directors that will surprise the audience with decidedly fresh and interesting works. Some of the directors, like Adan Jodorwsky, will be attending the festival and introducing their own short film to the public.
The International Jury is composed by Max Le Cain, filmmaker (Irish film lover and critic); Davide Turrini (journalist of the Italian national daily “Il Fatto Quotidiano” and an expert on cinema); Sergei Sviatchenko and Noriko Okaku (the directors who won the Short Film 2013 edition); and Anne Marie Guerin (member of the editorial board of Cahiers du cinéma). The award ceremony will be held Friday, October 3 in the presence of some of the jurors.
Lucca Film Festival Press Office:
Davis & Franceschini – Lea Codognato/Caterina Briganti – tel. +39 (0)55-2347273
Email: davis.franceschini@dada.it – www.davisefranceschini.it
PS Comunicazione – Antonio Pirozzi (+39-339-5238132)
English: Tessa Wiechmann
Communication and External Relations for Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca:
Marcello Petrozziello – tel. +39 (0)583-472627 – Mobile +39-340-6550425
