Editor

Maremetraggio is ready to celebrate its first ten years of life with a special program for the 2009 edition. It will be a gold edition, as the colour we have chosen for the festival catalogue of this year, with many meetings and novelties. For nine days, from June 26th to July 4th , in Trieste, screenings, conferences and meetings with actors and directors will alternate to offer to the festival audience a total immersion in the world of cinema.
To have an idea of how this festival will be, you only have to look at numbers: for Maremetraggio section, reserved to Italian and foreign shorts, there will be 100 films fighting for the Shop & Play Città Fiera award, that will grant 10.000 euro to the best work of the selection.
But there will be many other awards: the “Trudi”, to the best animated short, the award of the audience “35mm.it”, the award “Imaghia” to the short “that makes you feel good”, the award “242MovieTv” of 1000 euro to the best italian director and many others.
The selection includes 23 Italian shorts as well as 15 Spanish, 13 French and 12 German films. Among the shorts selected there are many european works, from Island to Lithuania, and some extra EU pearls: an Argentinian, a Canadian an a Israeli short, as well as a Swiss-Turkey co-production.
Besides these 100 shorts, there will be also 15 shorts of the CEI section (competing for an award of 2.500 euro), reserved to short films from the countries belonging to the Central European Initiative, that from 26th June will be screen, together with shorts of Maremetraggio section, in the wonderful frame of the Public Garden. Every evening the public will be able to see about 15 screenings, for a world tour based on shorts.
Moreover, thanks to the partnership with the Ellenic Foundation of Culture, for Maremetraggio 2009 will be the year of Greece and its cinema: a retrospect on Greek short films, selected in collaboration with Drama Film Festival, will introduce every evening screenings of feature films of Ippocampo section – Debut Works at Cinema Ariston.
Among the feature films selected there is Federico Bondi's debut work, “Dark Sea”, winner at Locarno Festival thanks to the very topical story and to the imposing acting of Ilaria Occhini; “The rebellous Sicilian”, mafia's story directed by the Palermitan Marco Amenta and “Pa-ra-da”, debut work of marco Pontecorvo, the son of the unforgettable Gillo. Many are the awards for this section: the award “Fondazione Antonveneta” to the best debut work, the award “Fondazione Antonveneta” to the best actor, the “Fondazione Antonveneta” award to the best actress, the Critic Award and the Audience Award to the best debut work, the “Coraggio” award to a producer, the Officine Artistiche “scommessa” award to two beginners.
Furthermore, during the festival there will be a prospective on the young actress Alba Rohrwacher, with the screening of some films and shorts with her as feminine protagonist. At the end of the screenings, Alba will meet the festival public to speak about her professional career and her projects for the future.
But there will also be “Oltre il muro” (Beyond the wall), a documentary films exihibition that will take place inside the penitentiary of Trieste, to bring cinema also inside jails.
As usual there will be the Corallino section, reserved to the shorts produced by schools, that this year - thanks to the active role of the Ellenic Foundation of Culture - will present an original competition between Italian and Greek schools. To the best Italian shorts will be granted the award “Rotary Club Trieste Nord” and to the best Greek short will be granted the award “Giorgio Costantinides”.
In addition to screenings, Maremetraggio will organise also many meetings with its guests: directors, actors and producers. In particular, thanks to the Ellenic Foundation of Culture, this year there will be a meeting among Greek shorts directors, that present their works at Maremetraggio. Directors, together with the director of Drama Film Festival (the biggest Greek short films festival), will discuss about the theme “Greek cinema of the last 10 years”.
Another special event will also be dedicated to the Greek cinema, with an absolute protagonist of the Ellenic cinematography: the director Yannis Smaradgis, that will meet the festival audience to present his last film, “El Greco”, that will be screen in national preview at Maremetraggio festival.
From June 26th toJuly 4th, thanks to the collaboration with the Ellenic Foundation of Culture and the Greek-Oriental Community of Trieste, the audience will also have the opportunity to visit an exhibition dedicated to Greek art, with the exposition of a hundred film posters made by famous artists, given by the Ellenic Cineteca for the occasion and displayed in the room of the Greek-Oriental Community.
Among meetings scheduled for the festival, there will be also the usual seminar among all the guests of Maremetraggio involved in cinema's works, called “Fotogrammi incrociati”. But there will also be a presentation of “Centoautori” association and a meeting realized in collaboration with the Sperimental Centre of Cinematography, the National Centre of Shorts and the Api (Independent Authors Producers), called “Dal corto al lungo. Indice di scommessa produttivo?” (From short to feature film. Production's bet rating).
The last day of the festival, the 4th of July, there will be the final award cerimony, followed in the evening by a party dedicated to Greece and offered by the Greek-Oriental Community of Trieste, with Greek food and traditional music.