fondazione ente dello spettacolo awards the bresson prize to

Press Release
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL – FONDAZIONE ENTE
DELLO SPETTACOLO AWARDS THE BRESSON
PRIZE TO DIRECTOR AMOS GITAI
September 2, 2013. Spazio Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo
Sala Tropicana 1 - Hotel Excelsior, Venezia Lido
Venice, September 1, 2013 – During the 70th International Film Festival, in the
Sala Tropicana 1 of the Hotel Excelsior, in the exhibition space of Fondazione
Ente dello Spettacolo, the annual award of the Robert Bresson Prize is due
to take place on September 2, 2013, at 11:30 am. On the occasion of the
fourteenth edition, the prize will be awarded to Israeli director Amos Gitai,
whose films and documentaries are characterized by a strong political and
social commitment, who is present in the Official Competition of the Festival with
his latest work Ana Arabia.
The prize will be awarded by the President of the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications, S.E. Mons. Claudio Maria Celli, in the presence of don Ivan
Maffeis, President of Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo, Mons. Dario Edoardo
Viganò, Director of the Vatican Television Centre, Paolo Baratta, President of
Biennale di Venezia, and Alberto Barbera, the Artistic Director of the 70th
Venice International Film Festival.
THE ROBERT BRESSON PRIZE
The prize – a work of art named HOPE realized by the sculptor and goldsmith
Andrea Cagnetti, also known as Akelo – is awarded by Fondazione Ente
dello Spettacolo and the magazine «Rivista del Cinematografo» to the
director who has significantly given a testimony of the difficult path towards the
spiritual meaning of life. Among the directors who were awarded the prize over
the last years, there are some of the most important filmmakers in the world,
such as Giuseppe Tornatore, Wim Wenders, Zhang Yuan, Aleksandr
Sokurov, Walter Salles, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the Dardenne Brothers
and Ken Loach.
THE DIRECTOR
Amos Gitai is an Israeli director, scriptwriter and documentary filmmaker.
Among his most famous works we can mention: Kippur, Yom Yom, Kadosh,
Kedma, Promised Land, Free Zone and One Day You'll Understand. In all
his films – mainly focused on the problems of the Jewish society (from the
establishment of the State of Israel until the most recent conflicts with the
Palestinians) – he has maintained a critical position which was coherently far
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Press Release
both from the official positions of the different governments and the ideological
prejudices that often influence the supporters of the struggling factions. This
form of disenchanted awareness, which has often induced him to assume
different positions, has given life, in his last movie ANA ARABIA, to a
compassionate picture, with a strong and explicit utopian value, of a small group
of Arabian families which live with their Jewish relatives peacefully. In this
movie, far from every form of maximalism, politics radically takes the shapes
that should be its own shapes: sharing the choices that are, first of all, based on
men and women, with their dreams and desires, needs and daily problems.
Up to now, his activity numbers more than eighty films produced over a period
of forty-one years. While is output and longevity are striking, most impressive is
the diversity of his body of work (video productions, theatre setting ups and
books should be included). However, this variety is counterbalanced by a deep
coherence. Over the last years, Amos Gitai re-elaborated the fundamental
elements of his works, in order to examine each time, from the point of view of
the reality and the unconscious, the territories and the questions his work refers
to. He was born in Israel as the son of Bauhaus architect Munio Weinraub and
intellectual Efratia Gitai, a secular teacher of Biblical texts. As a young soldier,
he was sent to the Golan Heights during the war in 1973, where he witnessed
the growing Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation. Besides these
crucial experiences, which were fundamental for his films, he studied
architecture. Amos Gitai now lives in Haifa and Paris. His work, which places
him among the most respected directors in the world, explores new narrative
and stylistic horizons, always in connection with the contemporary reality, even
when his works are set in a mythical past.
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Filmography
Films
1985: Esther; 1989: Berlin-Jerusalem; 1990: Birth of a Golem; 1991: Golem – The Spirit of Exile; 1993: The
Petrified Garden; 1995: Zihron Devarim; 1998: Yom Yom; 1999: Kadosh; 2000: Kippur; 2001: Eden; 2002:
Kedma; September 11 – 11’09’’01; 2001 (segment Israel); 2003: Alila; 2004: Promised Land; 2005: Free
Zone; 2007: Disengagement; Chacun son cinéma (segment Le Dibbouk de Haifa); 2008: One Day You'll
Understand; 2009: The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness; Carmel; 2010: Roses à
credit; 2011: Lullaby to My Father; 2013: Ana Arabia.
Documentaries
1979: Wadi Salib Riots; 1980: In Search of Identity; House; 1981: Wadi; American Mythologies; 1982: Field
Diary; 1983: Pineapple; 1984: Reagan: Image for Sale; Bangkok-Bahrain/Labour for Sale; 1987: Brand
New Day; 1991: Wadi, Ten Years After; 1993: Queen Mary ‘87; In the Valley of the Wupper; 1994: Give
Peace a Chance; In the Name of the Duce; 1996: Munio Weinraub Gitai Architect (1909-1970); Milim; The
Arena of Murder; 1997: Kippur, War Memories; War and Peace in Vesoul; 1998: Zion, Auto-Emancipation;
A House in Jerusalem; Orange; 2001: Wadi Grand Canyon 2001; 2005: News from Home/News from
House.
Short films
1972: Souvenirs d’un camarade de seconde Aliya; Windows in David Pinsky no.5; Souk/Dialogues de
femmes; La Géographie selon l'homme moderne et le contrôle de l’environnement; Textures; Black Is
White; Details of Architecture; Arts and Crafts and Technology; 1973: Shosh; Talking About Ecology; Fire
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Comunicato Stampa
Eats Paper, Paper Eats Fire; 1974: Lucie; Blowing Glass; The International Orthodontist Congress;
Pictures in the Exhibition; Memphis U.S.A. (Suite); Memphis U.S.A. (Faces); Water; Images After
War/Après; Images of war 1, 2, 3; Arlington U.S.A.; 1975: My Mother at the Sea Shore; 1976: Charisma;
1977: Under the Water; Singing in Afula; Public House; Political Myths; Border; Dimitri; 1978: Wadi
Rushmia; Architectura; 1979: Cultural Celebrities; Carter's Visit to Israel; 1992: Metamorphosis of a
Melody; 1993: The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness; 2001: Surgeon General’s
Warning.
Press Office:
The Rumors
Chiara Bolognesi +39 339 8578872
Gianni Galli +39 335 8422890
Romina Such +39 339 3689010
[email protected]
The Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo (www.entespettacolo.org) has been active on the Italian
cinematographic culture scene since 1946. Over the years it has become a leader in Cinema content and
with the cinematographic web portal cinematografo.it it runs the cinema sections for the Sole 24 Ore,
Virgilio, Libero, MTV, Noverca, Lancia Everywhere Mobile, FilmAuro, Alitalia, Adn Kronos, Dire e Dire
giovani.
It carries out activities of traditional and electronic publishing, with the web portal www.cinematografo.it, it
organizes
cultural
events,
international
conferences,
seminars
and
festivals
(www.tertiomillenniofilmfest.org), film previews and often collaborates with important Italian and foreign
partners, such as the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Cinecittà Luce Spa, "Cahiers du cinéma",
the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana di Milano, Film Museum of Turin, the Film Commission Torino Piemonte.
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It publishes a daily press release dedicated to the world of cinema which can be consulted free of charge
on www.entespettacolo.org/rassegnastampa
It publishes the magazine Rivista del Cinematografo, Italy’s longest running film periodical
It owns the web portal www.cineconomy.com, which was founded in 2009 offering a comprehensive view
of the Film Market and Industry in Italy to its users. With articles dealing with politics and finance from
leading European newspapers Cineconomy offers a wide range of opinions and points of view, attempting
to give a united picture of the European situation.
Every year it publishes the Report – The Film Market and Industry in Italy, which can also be
downloaded in English free of charge.
The Tertio Millennio Film Fest (www.tertiomillenniofilmfest.org), which is now in its 17th year, is the
first festival to take place with the Patronage of the Vatican. It is organized by the Fondazione Ente dello
Spettacolo and the "Rivista del Cinematografo" under the same leadership. The festival is organized in
collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Culture and Social Communications, the Centro Sperimentale
di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale, with the contribution of the Direction General for Cinema of the
Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.
The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, bestowed a representational plaque on the XVI
year and on the previous years of the “Tertio Millennio Film Fest”.
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