HERE ARE THE SECTION TITLES ART & MUSIC OF BIOGRAFILM FESTIVAL
The life of extraordinary artists, da Kubrick a Margaret Atwood, in eight unmissable documentaries
from 5 al 15 June, great biographies and the best cinematic life stories arrive online. From June 1st it will be possible to book a place in the festival's virtual room, by accessing the site www.mymovies.it and creating an account. It will be possible to enjoy the vision during the 24 hours after the start of the screening.
The films and meetings with the authors will be available for free, in the original language with Italian subtitles, for all people who connect to the platform from Italian territory. More information will be available on the biografilm.it website in the next few days.
Biografilm Festival takes place with the contribution of the Department of Culture of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
Art and Music, as always, protagonists of the festival
The section is also back this year Cinema Film Art & Music, loved and expected by the festival audience and full of stories of exceptional lives. From photography, to music, art, to painting, to literature, at Cinema, the films proposed tell intense and true stories.
What it means to be an artist? What is the reality of those who dedicate their lives to artistic expression?
In the films of the Art section & Music, artists and artists self-tell, with their voice or through their own art, with the message they leave to the world through their own work.
The selection committee of Biografilm festival has chosen to bring together small and large productions from all over the world, biographies of sacred monsters and little-known people who together make up a harmonious picture that embraces different territories and continents, from Emilia-Romagna to China. Shared by the love of life as an artist, the protagonists of these films let us enter their worlds and their powerful imagination.
The titles and synopsis of Biografilm Art & Music:
Abbas by Abbas, in Kamy Pakdel (France, 2019, ’53), international preview
Abbas, photographer icon member of the Magnum Agency, he followed all the main events that shook the world from the seventies to the present day. Abbas was a direct witness of the most dramatic world events, representing them up close with great courage. For the first time, divided by different thematic itineraries (violence, chaos, obsession…), the film depicts the traits of an observer in the world and captures the last words of one of the most important photographers of all time, who died in 2018.
The years that sing, by Filippo Vendemmiati (Italy, 2020, ’90), world premiere
The project was supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region, and tells the story of “The Canzoniere delle Lame”, Bolognese group of political music and social commitment. From the hippies and post ’68 era of Paris to Bologna where, departing to an unknown destination, the first dialogues are heard among the young Jack musicians (The Others of B), Albi (The welfare state), Janna Carioli and the other former members of the Canzoniere delle Lame. The story starts in France and takes us to Piazza Nettuno in Bologna, then to the Palasport, in a city theater, along the country roads and the Unity Holidays of Emilia-Romagna… A space occupies the service station of Cantagallo di Sasso Marconi (Bologna) dove, in 1971, Mr Almirante was challenged by the workers. On this episode the Songwriter wrote a song that became famous. We retrace the whole history as in a light-hearted and nostalgic tour. Genome Films distribution.
Being Eriko (Erikos verdener), di Jannik Splidsboel (Denmark, Norway, 2020, ’75), international preview
From Kobe to Copenhagen, we follow the evolution of the Japanese pianist from a "clean and educated" spirit to a free spirit. For the artist Eriko Makimura, opposites attract. After excelling in his path as a classical pianist, Eriko tries to distinguish his identity from his professional title and to get rid of his past. His art and performances unite grotesque, delicacy and refinement. Eriko, however, must pay dearly for his perfectionism. After being raised to the rules and discipline and having spent a frustrating childhood, dreaming of the possibility of a life elsewhere, Eriko is finally walking the path of research and acceptance of herself – and reconciliation with his passion for the piano. The music, female power, cultural conflicts and contradictions: this is what it means to be the extraordinary Japanese pianist Eriko Makimura.
Half Dream (Ban Meng), di Dandan Liu (Germany, 2019, ’86), international preview
Ten years after graduating from the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, director Dandan Liu decides to visit three of her former classmates, driven by the urgency of confrontation about their common past, about their need to create works of art, and finally on their current life. These events develop in the film, immersed in the generational context of the eighties in China, when the one-child policy still applied, where they tried to find their own way at the expense of the upheavals and economic and social difficulties. Half Dream tells the process of confrontation with reality, and the deep need for individual creative expression, in a society from which art is slowly disappearing.
Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, at Posy Dixon (UK, 2019, ’63), Italian preview
The Keyboard Fantasies album was independently written and produced by Beverly Glenn-Copeland in 1986. The seven recorded tracks are a hybrid of folk and electronic music, decidedly avant-garde for the period. Only after thirty years and after being revealed as trans, the musician began to get feedback from the outside world, receiving thanks for his music, that people just learned about. For the first time, Glenn's extreme dedication to music is shown on the screen. Halfway between sound-visual and do-it-yourself tour-video, the film allows our newly elected 'queer grandfather' to reconnect with young people around the world. A journey through the musician's time during his first global tour at the age of 74 years, with a record made in his youth when he was still Beverly.
Kubrick by Kubrick (Kubrick by Kubrick), by Gregory Monro (France, Poland, 2020, ’72), Italian preview
The legacy left by Stanley Kubrick to the cinema is not quantifiable. He was a giant in the art of cinema, his works resemble immaculate works of art, which are analyzed by teachers and students, all looking for answers. But Kubrick, and to, has always tried to refrain from answering. Although it is there for all to see, the ability to hear his true voice has always been very rare, at least until now. Thanks to Michel Ciment, film critic known internationally for being a Kubrick expert, consultant in the making of this film, the authors had access to a series of rare interviews that followed over the course of the 30 years of their friendship. Thanks also to the archives that the Kubrick family has made available, the film reveals an intimate and private portrait of one of the most famous directors of all time, no one had ever heard the voice of.
Margaret Atwood: A Word after a Word After Word Is Power, at Peter Raymont and Nancy Lang (Canada, 2019, ’92), Italian preview
Poet and writer, the name of Margaret Atwood is now known. and yet, there are few who really know the real Margaret. Who is the woman, who is the writer behind these stories? The directors closely follow Atwood and his partner Graeme Gibson, in the race to go from one end of the world to the other to give a conference, between a visit on the set of 'The story of the handmaid’ and a family vacation. The film explores the background of Margaret's life and history, the early days spent in Canadian nature writing poetry. Also retraced his novels, including 'The Wills', long-awaited sequel to 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Personal and private stories are told by family members, friends, and finally, from Margaret herself.
My Rembrandt (My Rembrandt), di Oeke Hoogendijk (Netherlands, 2019, ’95), Italian preview
Rembrandt: aristocrats love it, experts talk about it, art dealers chase him, collectors want it and museums go to war to get it. A 350 years since the painter's disappearance, entire nations are obsessed more than ever with his paintings. My Rembrandt is an epic art thriller that allows us to enter the super exclusive world of collectors of the works of the Grand Master. Protagonist of My Rembrandt it is the unbridled passion for the painter's works, which still today shows no sign of going out.
Biografilm Festival takes place with the contribution of the Department of Culture of the Emilia-Romagna Region, of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, of the Municipality of Bologna, of the Monte del Bologna and Ravenna Foundation, of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation in Bologna and with the main partnership of Unipol Gruppo Finanziario.
With the partnership of Emilia-Romagna Film Commission, Hera Group, CO.TA.BO e Cannamela.
With the media partnership of Sky Cinema, Sky Arte and Mymovies.it
Biografilm Festival is part of Bologna Estate 2020, the billboard of activities promoted and coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna.
www.biografilm.it