by Isabella Weber

The professors leave their lecterns and the screens light up at IULM in Milan for the eight Italian films in the running for the first edition of the Caligari Award from December 3 to 6.

What’s the common denominator of this eclectic selection that runs the gamut from Maccio Capatonda’s dark satire (Murder Italian Style), Rak’s evocative animation feats (Cinderella the Cat), the pop music mode from the Manetti Brothers (Ammore e malavita), the Alpine setting exploited by Donato Carrisi (The Girl in the Fog), not to mention the cross-media conceptions of Ivan Silvestrini (Monolith), the crime movie flair of Toni D’Angelo (Falchi Falcons Special Squad), the dark fairy tale undertones of Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (Sicilian Ghost Story), and the austere directorial debut by Andrea de Sica (Children of the Night)?

Giorgio Gosetti and Gianni Canova, curators of this new competitive lineup that springs from the partnership between Noir in Festival and IULM University, wish to reassure Noir audiences that yes, these eight films, each in their own way, traditionally or otherwise, display all the many shades of noir. "This new award is our tribute to Claudio Caligari, one of the greatest noir filmmakers in contemporary Italian film, and it’s also our way of filling in a gap by acknowledging the status of Italian film noir, in a country that still labors to take genre film seriously and give it its due."

To kick off the competition for the Caligari Award, Maccio Capatonda, staying in character, stepped up to do the honors,  exhorting the jury in attendance to vote for his film for several important reasons: "I put my heart into it, I knocked myself out, and above all I’ll have to pay my taxes, so please: cast those votes for yours truly!"