XXIII edition
10/15 December 2013
Release: the program of the 23. Edition
Who’s afraid of Big, Bad 13?
PHOTOGALLERY HIGH RES
Who’s afraid of Big, Bad 13?
FRIDAY THE 13TH has always been a special day for horror lovers, but in Courmayeur fear of the dark will this year go hand in hand with the dazzling Swedish luminosity of Henning Mankell. On Scandinavians’ most important holiday, Santa Lucia Day, he will be at the Noir in Festival to receive the Raymond Chandler Award, which for over 20 years we have been presenting to the greatest masters of the genre.
Not coincidentally, the NoirFest had made ample room for Scandinavia cinema as well, with films by Mikkel Nørgaard (THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES), Søren Kragh-Jakobsen (THE HOUR OF THE LYNX) and Agneta Fagerström-Olsson (THE TROUBLED MAN, the last case of European readers’ most beloved inspector, Kurt Wallander).
The 2013 Competition selection offers once again that edginess to which the festival has returned in recent years, with films like the powerful Filipino title ON THE JOB by Erik Matti; US indie BLUE CAPRICE by Alexandre Moors; and Lucìa Puenzo’s WAKOLDA, Argentina’s submission for the upcoming Oscars. And naturally also reflects the renewed interest in Italian genre cinema, with two highly anticipated competition, and two out-of-competition, titles. Gracing Courmayeur with their presence will be: Lambert Wilson and Giovanna Mezzogiorno (VINODENTRO by Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani), Roberto De Francesco and Esther Elisha (NEVE by Stefano Incerti), Rocco Papaleo (Augusto Zucchi’s LA VOCE) and the young Daisy Keeping of NEVERLAKE, a psychological horror-thriller by newcomer Riccardo Paoletti.
There are also highly anticipated premieres of films by established directors such as Ridley Scott (THE COUNSELOR, starring Michael Fassbender), Denis Villeneuve (ENEMY, with Jake Gyllenhaal), Richard Shepard (DOM HEMINGWAY, with Jude Law), Atom Egoyan (DEVIL’S KNOT, featuring Colin Firth) and Johnnie To (BLIND DETECTIVE, with Andy Lau). Since when has a genre festival offered a similar line-up of original events as this year’s NoirFest?
Along with our film competition, we have fantasy films that promise many a spark, with a marathon on Thursday, December 12, to celebrate the return of THE HOBBIT; the Italian premiere of CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2; a newfound hero for our youngest viewers, the little cat Thunder of THE HOUSE OF MAGIC; and Enzo D’Alò’s latest fairy tale, THE MAGIC FLUTE, written by and dedicated to Vincenzo Cerami.
The more "cultured" and original side of NoirFest this year naturally comprises discussions with writers from the world over, starting with Chandler Award recipient Henning Mankell; best-selling French author Jean-Christophe Grangé; South Africa’s Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls), who looks at violence against women from an original (to us at least) perspective; and Israeli noir author Assaf Gavron, who uses political fiction to find a solution to his land’s eternal conflict. This impressive group also includes a number of Italian writers: Roberto Cotroneo, who follows in Simenon’s footsteps; the five finalists for the Giorgio Scerbanenco - La Stampa Prize for best Italian crime novel of the year; physicist Federico Tavola; "debut" noir novelist Enrico Vanzina, who was written myriad hit comedy films; and the duo Giancarlo De Cataldo and Carlo Bonini with the novel Suburra, at the center of this year’s conference.
Also on the menu are discussions with the jury (of writers and screenwriters this year) and leading personalities of Italian cinema; a trip down (genre) memory lane with the tribute CATALANA I CRIMINAL, genre films made in Catalonia under Franco by a handful of highly skilled "craftsmen," including Josep Maria Forn, the 85-year-old master and subject of a retrospective organized by Lorenzo Codelli, which will tour Italy and Switzerland. There’s also the third installment of the VEDO NERO discussions, organized in partnership with Istituto Luce Cinecittà and dedicated this year to CANTIERI DELLA PAURA, Italy’s independent "horror factories," with Dario Argento as "master of ceremonies" and a series of protagonists you’ll want to meet, such as Roberto Bianchini, John Real, Domiziano Delvaux Cristopharo, magical duo Boni & Ristori, Ivan Zuccon, Raffaele Picchio, Lorenzo Bianchini, producer Claudio Bronzo, distributor Giovanni Costantino and scream queen Crisula Stafida…
This year’s theme is HANDS OVER THE CITY, and it will be a journey of discovery of Italy’s new crime bosses in its biggest cities, Rome and Milan. Incorporating the story by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo, and of discussions by Milanese judges and lawyers on crime behind Expo 2015, journalist-author Gaetano Savatteri will offer a new conference that spans history, chronicle and the collective imagination, which every year the festival dedicates to the mysteries of Italy.
Also dedicated to this year’s theme is the 2013 poster, by Florentine artist Giacomo Costa, of one of his evocative sci-fi cities, currently on exhibit at the smART in Rome, which through November 28 is showing his enigmatic and disturbing urban and natural landscapes, a blend of photography, architecture and science fiction, along with never-before-seen whimsical self-portraits.
Once again NoirFest offers numerous parallel events that enrich our event and round out its spirit of research and experimentation in innovative territories. They include the new project by the musical group L’Orage, who will be at the Festival with their anticipated video and a live show on opening night; a story on 1960s Milan by Erica Arosio and Giorgio Maimone from the novel Vertigine, a theatrical rendition of which will kick off the awards ceremony on December 14, with musical support by L’Orage; a web series by Moviemax and the IULM of Milan; the mysterious incursions of www.ammazzon.com; the presentation of the Festival’s new Media Partner; a multi-media collaboration with the NUCT school of Roma and Spotify; the 2014 noir previews of TV network laeffe, which is paying a special tribute to Mankell, Wallander and Scandinavian noir; surprise appearances by the Manetti Bros and Federico Greco; the photo competition Occhi sulla città dedicated to social networks; the Zucca - Spirito Noir competition award; Francesco Cinquemani’s work in progress, Off Stage, of the true stories of the protagonists of Caesar Must Die; and the mysterious "investigative" film on Man Ray, La casa Emak Bakia by Oskar Alegria, featuring Tonino Benacquista.
Thanks to a partnership with Sony and DCinex, we will be the first Italian film festival to use Sony Digital Cinema 4K technology. Its extraordinary image quality will be presented on the evening of the Festival’s avant-premiere, Monday, December 9, and will be used throughout the entire event.
PHOTOGALLERY HIGH RES
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