What with Ratzi and Buttiglioni, it’s not so easy being a Lesbian these days (it was really easy back in the Middle Ages, as comedian Kate Clinton joked). But if you are in Bologna this weekend you can enjoy four days of Lesbian Cinema. Immaginaria, the Lesbian Film Festival, is back again after its organisers took a year off for lack of funds.
The festival opens with a “shock documentary” by Iranian director Parisa Shahandeh whose film tells the story of a seven year old child beheaded by her father after being raped by her uncle. How much more fun can we stand? Iraq was invaded for much less I think.
You will also get a chance to hear Simona Torretta, who was kidnapped in Iraq (and then freed thanks to the payment of a ransom – please correct me if I am wrong). There will also be a debate on PACS (civil union)…more later.
The biggest novelty this year is of course the fact that Immaginaria has been obliged to open its doors to a mixed public after 12 years of praiseworthy separatist enterprise. Cristina Zanetti, one of the organizers, told me that that was the price that has had to be paid for using the Cineteca, which is publicly funded and cannot therefore exclude “male presence”!.
My own interest will be focussed on the a debate on PACS (civil union). Romano Prodi has vowed to support civil union in Italy and I am getting my wedding present list ready (I need a new set of forks and some cocktail glasses folks). When it is finally possible to get PACS-ed, “coppie di fatto” with be able to hold their heads up proudly alongside married folks and we will no longer have to witness such ugly scenes as occured at the commemorative celebration of the 19 carabinieri killed in Nassiriya two years ago, when Adelina Parillo, partner of director Stefano Rolle, one of the two civilians filled in the attack in November 2004, was excluded from the ceremony. If Stefano Rolle had been gay, his partner wouldn’t even have tried to get in and maybe no one would have written a word about the story. Moral of the story – gays and straights unite on this issue!
Let’s see if we can do a Zapatero in Italy too!
Archive for the ‘cinema’ Category
IMMAGINARIA…ET AL
Thursday, November 17th, 2005Must an Italian film be in Italian?
Saturday, October 22nd, 2005The exclusion of Italian Oscar nominee for best foreign film, Private by Saverio Costanzo, has been criticised by producer Aurelio de Laurentis.
Current regulations say that foreign films should be predominantly in the mother tongue of the candidate country.
Private tells the story of the occupation of a Palestinian home by Israeli soldiers and is – understandably – in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
De Laurentis believes that this ruling is out-of-date and has withdrawn his own film, Manuale d’amore in protest. Cinema today, he says, must be international. In a world of Internet and globalisation, categories based on national languages and dialects don’t make sense.
He has made a formal complaint to the Academy and is asking other producers to support Private.
Fortunately, with Private and Manuale d’Amore out of the running, Comencini’s La Bestia nel Cuore may now have a fighting chance. It is a harrowingstory of family rape with a cheerful subplot: starring Angela Finocchiara (divorcee and seducee) and Stefani Rocca (seducer). Great love story.
Current regulations say that foreign films should be predominantly in the mother tongue of the candidate country.
Private tells the story of the occupation of a Palestinian home by Israeli soldiers and is – understandably – in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
De Laurentis believes that this ruling is out-of-date and has withdrawn his own film, Manuale d’amore in protest. Cinema today, he says, must be international. In a world of Internet and globalisation, categories based on national languages and dialects don’t make sense.
He has made a formal complaint to the Academy and is asking other producers to support Private.
Fortunately, with Private and Manuale d’Amore out of the running, Comencini’s La Bestia nel Cuore may now have a fighting chance. It is a harrowingstory of family rape with a cheerful subplot: starring Angela Finocchiara (divorcee and seducee) and Stefani Rocca (seducer). Great love story.
Thought for the day: would an Italian film set in German-speaking North Tyrol or a film set in Welsh speaking Wales be similarly ineligible?