The festival of new Italian cinema "NICE" has opened in Moscow

MOSCOW. The 18th festival of new Italian cinema “NICE” (the name of the film forum stands for “new Italian cinema events”) opened yesterday, April 8, in the Moscow cinema “Illusion”. This year’s festival program included films of various genres - these are thrillers, comedies, dramas, and even for the first time a horror film and animation. Also in the show program, among others, are two paintings that took first place at the box office in Italy.

From nearly a hundred films made over the past few years in Italy, only ten films were selected by the organizers to participate in the NICE festival. However, according to the director of the film forum, these films reflect the significant changes for the better that have occurred with Italian cinema. “Young Italian directors have finally stopped copying the classics. Today they are thinking with their own head, looking for their language. And I am very proud of it, ”said the director of the festival, Viviana del Bianco, at a press conference.

All films included in the cinema program were awarded prestigious international awards. The main picture of the number of awards in the framework of the festival was "Long Live Freedom" directed by Roberto Ando. The lead actor in the film, Tony Servillo, who played in the Oscar-winning "Great Beauty". The film, telling about one politician who decided in one moment to change his fate, is completely fictional. But the picture "The Seller of Drugs" directed by Antonio Marabito is based on real events. As the author of the film told, initially he had the idea of creating a fully documentary film that reveals the facts of lawlessness in the pharmaceutical field, but faced with many obstacles, he decided to slightly change the format of the picture. “I didn’t manage to shoot a documentary - people were afraid to tell on camera what they know about the underground drug trade. Therefore, I collected the stories I heard and made a feature film based on them, ”he said.

The NICE festival opened with a screening of the comedy film directed by Paolo Genovese “Have you been to the moon?” (2015), which was presented by one of the roles, actress Sabrina Impacciatore. The film reveals the story of the romantic relationship between the capital girl and the provincial guy, popular in Italian cinema. Another film directed by Genovese, which will also be presented at the festival, is the film Freud is to blame for everything (2013), which won first place at the box office in Italy. The film forum also includes the aforementioned horror film “The Mirror House” and the animated film “The Art of Being Happy”.

Traditionally, the festival of new Italian cinema “NICE” will be held in Moscow (from April 8 to 13) and St. Petersburg (April 11-17). The organizers of the event noted that next year the expansion of geography is planned - it is likely that in 2016 the festival will also be held in Novosibirsk, Pyatigorsk and Novy Urengoy.

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru