fondazione ente dello spettacolo awards the bresson prize to
Transcript
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 Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo Via Giuseppe Palombini, 6 · 00165 Roma · Tel +39 06 96519200 · Fax +39 06 96519220 Email [email protected] · www.entespettacolo.org · VAT number 09273491002 Fiscal Code 97434740581 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. 2 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 2 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. 3 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”. 3