Ivan Gergolet is the Best Director of the ItaliaFilmFest competitive section of the BIF&ST, the international film festival of Bari, which ended yesterday, April 2nd. He won the Ettore Scola Award, awarded by the Audience Jury presided over by Donatella Palermo, for his thriller The Man Without Guilt, centered on the tragedy of deaths from asbestos, in cinemas from 30 March distributed by Arch Film.
The film is an international co-production between Italy (Igor Prinčič for Transmedia), Slovenia (Staragara) and Croatia (Propeler Film), realized with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture, with the support of Eurimages, Slovenian Film Centre, Croatian Audiovisual Center , Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission. Presented in Competition at the Tallinn Black Night Film Festival, it was presented at the Berlinale’s European Film Market by Slingshot Films, who sold it to Spain (Reverso) and Portugal and Brazil (Risi Film), then it was at Sofia International Film Festival and will go to the Beijing IFF (April 22-29).
The culmination of the Italian distribution path will be April 28, “world asbestos victims day”.
Together with Gergolet, Paola Sini was also awarded as Best Actress in the film La terra delle donne by Marisa Vallone (Mariangela Melato Award), and Orlando Angius for the film All dogs die alone by Paolo Pisanu (Gabriele Ferzetti Award).
The awards of the International Jury, chaired by Jafar Panahi (honorary president) and by Jean Jili, (and composed of Bettina Brokemper, Valeria Cavalli, Salvatore Maira, Pippo Mezzapesa, Grazyna Torbicka), went to Enen Yo (Bif&st International Award for Best Director for the film Double Life); to Ane Dahl Torp (Best Lead Actress in Erika Calmeyer’s film Storm), and to Thröstur Leó Gunnarson, Best Lead Actor in Hilmar Oddsson’s film Driving Mum.
The Bif&st is a project placed under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic created by the Apulia Film Commission in collaboration with the Puglia Region and Pugliapromozione funds PO Puglia FESR-FSE 2014-2020.
The new president of the Apulia Film Commission, Annamaria Tosto, at the opening of the festival had indicated, as a priority of her mandate, that of strengthening the cultural vocation of the tourist attraction of the region.
The declaration of the director of the Festival, Felice Laudadio, at the end of the event, echoes her: “The four wonderful theaters of the city of Bari leave the foreigners who have crowded the screenings and events of the Festival speechless, in these days we have received appreciation by spectators, directors and guest artists. The participation of tourists in the Bif&st is the symbol of a project to promote the area that fits into a vision that favors seasonal adjustment. The involvement of the public in this edition was incredible, a numerical data that we cannot provide because many activities are not ticketed, a concrete choice to maintain popular use of all the festival’s activities, a choice that guides the entire programming while maintaining always paid appointments, accessible at a popular cost.”
Source (in italian): cinema&video