The 2022 Black Panther Award ceremony
On Thursday, December 8th at 9 pm at the Cineteca Milano Arlecchino, Noir in Festival comes to a close with the announcement of the best film noir in the International Competition.
On Thursday, December 8th at 9 pm at the Cineteca Milano Arlecchino, Noir in Festival comes to a close with the announcement of the best film noir in the International Competition.
The large park called Villa Pamphilj in Rome, close to the Vatican City, has two very different faces: by day it’s a paradise for children, athletes, and the elderly; by night it’s the refuge of the homeless, drug addicts, and prostitutes. One freezing dawn in January, one of the ladies of the night is found lifeless, brutally stabbed to death. The victim was around twenty years old, lived on her own, sold her body to pay her college tuition and one day rewrite the script of her life. The murder shocks Inspector Ansaldi and his agents, since it provides a glimpse of the desperation lurking beneath the neighborhood’s placid façade. Moreover, the crime comes at the worst possible time, just two weeks before a delicate political summit between leading European heads of state, when all eyes would be on Italy’s capital. To avoid controversy, the city officials demand a swift investigation and totally under wraps. For the Monteverde Five, it’s going to be a terrifying race against time. François Morlupi made his debut as a novelist in 2018, with the noir Formule Mortali, which won a number of national literary awards in the genre. He also started to contribute to the website Thriller Nord that same year. In 2020, his second novel came out, another noir: Il colbacco di Sofia. In April 2021, he turned out Come delfini tra pescecani, the novel that kicked off the Monteverde Five series and brought him to the attention of the public at large. This title earned Morlupi the Scerbanenco Readers’ Award, an honor he’s receiving this year as well, for Nel nero degli abissi, the second investigation by the neighborhood cops in Rome’s Monteverde district. The protagonists of this series are hardly superheroes; they’re ordinary people. Heading the team is Inspector Biagio Maria Ansaldi, an upstanding professional just over fifty – and well over two hundred pounds. He suffers from anxiety, panic attacks, and hypochondria, and finds relief in his beloved 20th century painters. Indeed, his canine sidekick on every case is named Chagall.
If you ran into them on the street in Turin on a summer’s day, you’d never dream that they were four ex-convicts on the lam from France. And all thanks to a car accident involving the van that had been taking them to the Lyon prison, a pile-up they crawled out of and escaped across the border, and started over. Linked forever by this huge secret. Max Ventura, a former bank robber from Marseille, has opened a restaurant. Thanks to the cooking of his loving companion, there is always a line outside the door. Then there’s Abdel, an Algerian with bright blue eyes and a face etched with the signs of his dissolute past. Ex-thief himself, he runs a repair shop for antique cars. A headful of wild curls coupled with a smoldering gaze, Sanda from Madagascar is the kind of girl you remember. She has a stake in a martial arts gym, and does have the physique du role, after years as a dancer at the Crazy Horse in Paris. Last, there’s the melancholic allure of Victoria from Alsace. Her boyfriend had gotten her involved in a scam and now, broken-hearted, she – and her daughter – are starting over. But one day everything changes – again. An odd individual shows up at Max’s restaurant and calls himself Numero Uno. He’s come to turn their lives upside down with a dangerous scheme that will float their past to the surface. Shattered lives and starting over? Enter an irresistible crew of investigators you won’t be able to go without. Enrico Pandiani is an illustrator and graphic artist whose storytelling career started when he drew comic book stories published in Mondadori’s Mago and the magazine Orient Express. He has worked with the newspaper La Stampa for years, producing its infographics. His debut as a noir novelist goes back to 2009, when he wrote the first book in his saga Les italiens, whose protagonists are a cop squad in Paris and Inspector Mordenti, a jaded and lackadaisical type if there ever was one. The first three installments, Les italiens (2009), Troppo Piombo (2010), and Lezioni di tenebra (2011) were published by Instar Libri. Pandiani switched publishers in 2012, and Rizzoli brought out the fourth installment, Pessime scuse per un massacro. His 2013 novel La donna di troppo launched a new series set in his native Turin, featuring Zara Bosdaves, a former agent from forensics, now private detective, who would return in the 2015 Più sporco della neve. The following year, Pandiani wrote “Un letto di assi”, one of five stories in the collection I semi del male. The year 2016 saw the return of Inspector Mordanti in Una pistola come la tua. The series continued in 2017 with Un giorno di festa and in 2019 with Ragione da vendere. Before Fuoco, Pandiani turned out Il gourmet cena sempre due volte in 2020, and Lontano da casa the year after. Nicolas Winding Refn acts as showrunner and co-producer of
February 2020: while the media reports the first confusing rumors of a virus that is proving fatal in China and seems to have arrived in Italy as well, police headquarters in Milan is dealing with a ghoulish murder that raises the specter of a serial killer on the loose, targeting women and leaving clues that make no sense. The investigation is entrusted to Inspector Mario Mandelli, from the Violent Crime Analysis Unit: a solid fifty-five-year-old veteran in his field, in love with his wife Isa and her efficiency, and enamored of history as well. Mandelli’s assisted by Inspector Antonio Casalegno, the classic ladies’ man, too rash and impulsive at times on the job; the two men complement each other perfectly. And to solve the crime in time, before the virus spreads further and shuts down operations, every bit of the duo’s intuition and competence will be needed, along with the efforts of the entire investigative team, with its computer nerds, anatomopathologists, and even a Junoesque woman agent and former athlete. Complicating matters, another crime shocks the city: the murder of a well-known jeweler during a robbery. The pressure on the police concentrates the investigation in the space of eight tense days, with surprising twists and lives and love lives intersecting, a feat that turn into a ruthless challenge in which each player risks it all, their lives and their relationships. Winning the challenge will mean proving to themselves and the world that fighting till their last breath, to feel they’re still alive, was worth it. Gian Andrea Cerone has long worked in the fields of communication and traditional, television and digital publishing. Among the many positions he has held, Cerone served as the head of institutional relations at the Ministry of Economic Development as well as for EXPO 2015. In 2018, he founded the publishing platform for Storielibere podcasts. The novel Le notti senza sonno marks his literary debut and is the first book in a series that will hinge on the investigative team at the Violent Crime Analysis Unit in Milan.
Every day at dawn, men and women cross the border between Italy and Switzerland to go to work. They’re called frontalieri, and there are tens of thousands or them. One is Ernesto Magni. Nothing out of the ordinary about his life, really, until he gets fired and his wife walks away, and things take a decidedly nasty turn. Elia Contini, a modest private investigator who lives in the mountains of the Ticino, from where he casts an ironic and jaded eye on the world below, when not working. takes the case. With all his existential angst unresolved, Contini now finds himself in a dark zone that reaches from the lives of the frontalieri to the violent, chaotic world of corrupt businessmen. The noir novel delves into the psychological makeup of the protagonists and lesser characters as it tells a tale of sexual harassment, economic exploitation, and time-old grudges – but also love, tenderness, and intimacy. The events can be seen through the eyes of the imaginary beasts peopling these pages: changeable shapes and reflections of strange, fantastical dreams, the impulse being to either take flight or take refuge in them, holding onto to hope. Andrea Fazioli’s novels Le strade oscure (agosto 2022), Il commissario e la badante (2020), Gli Svizzeri muoiono felici (2018), L’arte del fallimento (2016, La Fenice Europa, Anfiteatro d’Argento awards), Il giudice e la rondine (2014), Uno splendido inganno (2013), La sparizione (2010, La Fenice Europa Award), Come rapinare una banca svizzera (2009), and L’uomo senza casa (2008, Stresa Award, Selezione Comisso Award) were all published by Guanda. His novel Le vacanze di Studer. Un poliziesco ritrovato (2021), based on unpublished writings by Friedrich Glauser translated by Gabriella de’Grandi, was published by Casagrande, along with the story collection Succede sempre qualcosa (2018). Chi muore si rivede (2005) came out with Dadò, and La beata analfabeta (2016) with edizioni San Paolo, while Gabriele Capelli Editore published A Zurigo, sulla luna. Dodici mesi in Paradeplatz (2021), co-authored with Yari Bernasconi. In paperback, Fazioli’s novels are published by TEA. He also wrote a 2015 play called Teoria e pratica della rapina in banca, while the previous year he scripted the web series Notte noir (winner of awards at the Roma Web Fest and the Efebo d’Oro in Palermo).
1905: A sumptuous gala charity event has brought together all the wealthy residents of Cagliari as as a fund-raiser for earthquake victims in Calabria. Clara, the granddaughter of the island’s most important shipowner, is on the guest list, aiming to meet a functionary from the Italian embassy on his return from China, a figure who might have news of her father, gone missing in the Boxer Rebellion. Other guests include the scandal-shrouded Cabras barons, who, on leaving the gala, are assaulted and killed. It looks like a political murder : the baron was hated for governing his many workers with an iron hand. Why, then, would his chauffeur be killed as well? Always eager to assist the weaker members of society, and worried as well about the fate of the young nephew of the barons, whom she feels sympathetic to (and possibly something more), Clara can’t help taking part in the investigation. In the exotic atmosphere of Cagliari over a hundred years ago, with its Punic-era necropolis, its port, its Chinese community in the Marina, and the local mobsters, Clara will uncover a startling truth. Francesco Abate made his literary debut with Mister Dabolina (Castelvecchi, 1998). He followed that up with Il cattivo cronista (Il Maestrale, 2003), Ultima di campionato, from a story that won the Solinas Award (Il Maestrale, 2004 / Frassinelli 2006), Getsemani (Frassinelli, 2006), and I ragazzi di città (Il Maestrale, 2007). Einaudi would publish his novels Mi fido di te (Stile libero 2007 and Super ET 2015), co-written with Massimo Carlotto; Cosí si dice (2008), Chiedo scusa (co-written with Saverio Mastrofranco, Stile libero 2010 and Super ET 2012 and 2017), Un posto anche per me (2013), Mia madre e altre catastrofi (2016), Torpedone trapiantati (2018), and I delitti della salina (2020). Abate is one of the authors included in the charity anthology Sei per la Sardegna (Einaudi 2014, the others being Alessandro De Roma, Marcello Fois, Salvatore Mannuzzu, Michela Murgia, and Paola Soriga).
A film producer, the brother of a powerful former Christian Democrat minister, is found dead in his Jaguar, which turns up in a remote Alpine valley, His wife, a former actress who had made an entire generation swoon, is missing. The investigation falls to Inspector Arcadipane, who has to leave his native Turin and move temporarily up to Clot, a smattering of houses under a dam that squeezes the valley in a noosehold. The villagers are reluctant to talk to him and ornery in general, and the murder case seems uncrackable. Too complicated: he’ll have to call in his old friend and mentor Corso Bramard, and the unruly yet indispensable agent Isa Mancini, both fielding some problems in their private lives. To find out the truth, the three will have to dig deep in old secrets and new self-interests, unraveling the threads woven by a number of hands, until they learn that, for nearly everyone, life pays on Saturday. Davide Longo has directed documentaries, written plays and articles, and scripted Radio Rai programs. His first novel, the 2001 Un mattino a Irgalem (Marcos y Marcos), was reissued by Feltrinelli in 2019 and won the Grinzane Cavour Prize for a first work and the Via Po Award. In 2004, Longo published Il mangiatore di pietre (Marcos y Marcos 2004, Feltrinelli 2016), winner of the City of Bergamo Award and the Viadana Award. He has also written children’s books and on other topics: Il diavolo fa il nido (2003), La vita a un tratto (2006), E più non dimandare (2007, with painter Valerio Berruti), Pirulin senza parole (2008), and La montagna pirata (2019, with artist Fausto Gilberti), all published by Corraini Edizioni. In 2010, Fandango published Longo’s Lucca Award-winning novel L’uomo verticale, while Keller Editore brought out Il signor Mario, Bach e i settanta. They would be followed by Ballata di un amore italiano (Feltrinelli 2011) and Maestro Utrecht (NN editore 2016). In 2014, Longo brought out his first novel featuring the detective duo Arcadipane and Bramard: Il caso Bramard (Feltrinelli 2014, Einaudi 2021). The series continued with Le bestie giovani (Feltrinelli 2018, Einaudi 2021) and Una rabbia semplice (Einaudi 2021). La vita paga il sabato is the fourth installment in the series. Longo wrote the screenplay for the film The Stone Eater (2018) based on his 2004 novel, directed by Nicola Bellucci and starring Luigi Lo Cascio. Longo divides his time between Turin and his chalet in Valle Varaita, whether he created the writers’ residency AlfaBaita. He teaches creative writing at the Scuola Holden and also training courses for teachers on the use of narrative techniques in schools at all levels.
Graphic novel by Paolo Bacilieri Paolo Bacilieri is the graphic artist behind the comic book adaptation of A Private Venus by noirmeister Giorgio Scerbanenco. This is the first investigation for Duca Lamberti, the iconic character at work in Milan, city of crime. The graphic novel’s publication coincides with the last installment to come out in Linus. In the outskirts of Milan, a young shop assistant is found dead. Duca Lamberti, a former doctor banned from medical practice for helping an elderly patient to die, has finished a three-year prison sentence and now needs a job. He agrees to take care of the alcoholic son of a wealthy businessman, Pietro Auseri, and cure him of his alcoholism. The two threads of the story are interwined, Lamberti realizes, when he learns the young man was driven to drink over guilt at having caused the young woman’s death. Lamberti thus joins Inspector Carrua’s investigation. Paolo Bacilieri wields understatement to follow the players in this drama, revealing bit by bit the little stories that are wrapped in the fog of a criminal’s Milan by breaking up the picture, alternating points of view, close-ups, and long shots, and deploying an eroticism that equally caresses bodies and architectures. Paolo Bacilieri is one of Italy’s leading graphic artists today, his works translated all over the world. He’s been drawing and storytelling since the 1980s, even since, at age seventeen, with a degree from Bologna’s Academy of Fine Arts, he apprenticed himself to the great Milo Manara. His Zeno Porno stories, about his most famous character of the same name, won the Gran Guinigi Award for Best Solo Author at the 2006 Lucca Comics & Games. Since 1999 he has published with Sergio Bonelli Editore (Napoleone, Jan Dix, Dylan Dog). In 2012 he brought out Sweet Salgari (Coconino Press), a comic book biography of author Emilio Salgari, ten years in the making, and winner of multiple prizes. The years 2014 to 2019 saw the publication of Bacilieri’s Fun (winner of the 2018 Eisner Award, for the American edition), More Fun, both of which revisit the genesis and legend of crossword puzzles, and Ettore e Fernanda (Coconino Press). No artist surpasses Bacilieri in depicting the urban landscape and especially Milan’s, as can be seen in his Tramezzino (Canicola 2018), a story of young love in the shadow of the Velasco Tower, and winner of the 2019 Micheluzzi Award for Best Illustration. His most recent work is Bob84, scripted by Vincenzo Felosa. Bacilieri is a regular contributor to Linus, Domus, Abitare, and many other magazines.
HARLAN COBEN RAYMOND CHANDLER AWARD 2022 The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has all the trappings of the American Dream: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, a big house, and a good job, a seemingly perfect life. Until he runs into the Stranger, who reveals a devastating secret about his wife Corinne, and his life caves in like a house of cards. Corinne begs him to meet her so she can explain, but when he agrees, she disappears. Adam realizes that something is up. How did the stranger know those things about his wife? Is he involved in her disappearance? Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, because the Stranger hasn’t just whispered in his ear. He’s told others unspeakable secrets: acquaintances, friends, and neighbors. He holds their lives in his hands, and threatens to end them. Harlan Coben has a degree in political science and a past as a basketball player. Over the course of his career, he has received the prestigious Anthony Award, for Deal Breaker (1995), and the Edgar Award and Shamus Award for Fade Away (1996). His over thirty novels, translated into forty-five languages, have become bestsellers in the U.S., the U.K., and France, and have sold over seventy-five million copies the world over. His bibliography includes seventeen stand-alone novels, soon to be joined by I Will Find You next year. Eleven of his novels written between 1995 and 2016 make up the series built around the sports agent Myron Bolitar. He has also turned out two spin offs: the Mickey Bolitar Trilogy and Windsor Horne Lockwood III, consisting of just one novel at present: Win (2021). His new Wilde series consists of two: The Boy from the Woods (2020) andThe Match (2022). In addition, in 2016 Coben published the graphic novel The Magical Fantastical Fridge, illustrated by Leah Tinari. In 2003, the New York Times asked Coben to write a story, an unusual editorial move that had not been seen in many years. So it was that, on June 15th, 2003, his story “The Key to My Father” appeared in the pages of the Times. In 2021, Longanesi published a Coben novel to critical and popular acclaim: Fuga (Run Away, 2019), thus launching the author in its catalogue. This year, Longanesi has brought out Coben’s 2015 The Stranger, on which the Netflix series of the same name is based. Previous novels by Coben, published by Mondadori, include: Non dirlo a nessuno (Tell No One, 2001), Svaniti nel nulla (Gone for Good, 2002), Suburbia Killer (The Innocent, 2005), Estate di morte (The Woods, 2007), and Senza lasciare traccia (Long Lost, 2009). Coben’s novels
Bari, early August. While Lolita Lobosco is trying to enjoy her vacation, in the shed on the Terrarossa farmstead a body turns up: that of Suni Digioia, a young businesswoman, environmentalist, and activist for the cause of farmworkers’ rights. On the door to the shed, in bright red letters, the words, “Come in! I’ve hanged myself” are scrawled. It certainly looks like a suicide, but Inspector Lobosco isn’t buying it, after interrupting her holiday to look into the death. When the autopsy confirms that the young woman was strangled, the victim’s private life is gone over with a fine-toothed comb: she was too attractive, too free-spirited and independent not to arouse envy and gossip. Lolita, however, doesn’t stop at the rumors and plunges into the murky waters of the deplorable working conditions of the farmhands to bring the truth to the surface. Gabriella Genisi has written numerous novels and created the character of Lolita Lobosco, protagonist of ten novels published by Sonzogno that have generated a TV series directed by Luca Miniero and starring Luisa Ranieri. The first eight are: La circonferenza delle arance (2010), Giallo ciliegia (2011), Uva noir (2012), Gioco pericoloso (2014), Spaghetti all'Assassina (2015), Mare nero (2016), Dopo tanta nebbia (2017), and I quattro cantoni (2020). This year Genisi has turned out two more Lolita Lobosco novels: Terrarossa, and Lo scammaro avvelenato e altre ricette. Another of Genisi’s mainstays is the woman carabiniere from Italy’s Salento region, Chicca Lopez, who first appeared in the 2019 novel Pizzica amara, published by Nero Rizzoli and optioned by Fabula Pictures. In 2021, she published the second installment of that series: La regola di Santa Croce.
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