Successful participation and attendance at the 6th edition of the Italian Film Festival in Málaga
- The event has attracted almost 1000 viewers and participants with its various activities, with almost 500 tickets issued.
- More than 200 students came to see the live creation of the mural of Alice Pasquini, in the Soho area of Málaga.
- The young Italian actress, Gaia di Pietro, attended the screening of the work she stars in, Calcinculo, and discussed social issues such as body shaming, obesity and bullying with the audience in the auditorium.
Málaga, 22nd May 2023 – Over the past week, Málaga has become the heart of Italian culture and art thanks to the sixth edition of the Italian Film Festival in the city, organised by the Dante Alighieri Society in Málaga. This event is committed to bringing the seventh art, as something that captures and transmits values, to Malaga´s society, providing an additional attraction to the leisure it already offers. The Festival was celebrated in person from the 13th to the 21st May with a programme that featured six films, cinematographic discussions, a great participation success from the public, critics, media coverage, and has received support from public and private institutions.
Committed to its objective of reflecting the best of current Italian cinema, the screenings have brought together leading names in both Italian and European cinema, as well as very promising names, that establish the event as a benchmark of the neighbouring country’s culture. There was a total of six programmed films, one per day at 7:30pm projected in the Albéniz Cinema, where other activities are also included such as the opening concert of Laamar, in the Victoria brewery, the creation of a mural by the urban international artist Alice Pasquini, on one of the walls adjacent to the Centre of Contemporary Art in Málaga, the CAC (Calle Navalón), and the original closing event in La Polivalente with the work Tu Pirandello, e io?, by the Italian theatre company Lacunarii.
“The Festival has presented a programme of the highest quality, with award-winning works in different competitions, including eight from the recent David de Donatello, and renowned names such as Felix Van Groeningen, Chiara Bellosi, Pupi Avati, Paolo Virzì, Emanuele Crialese y Roberto Andò. The result has been brilliant, with an important increase of viewers, establishing its prestige as a cinematographic event in the theatres of the Albéniz Cinema and, above all, as an important cultural offering of the city,” states Agustín Gómez, Director of the event.
In terms of the audience, the event had almost 1000 spectators and participants in its different activities, including almost 500 tickets issued, as well as those who attended other direct access activities, with approval or invitation. This places the festival in similar figures to those of the last edition in terms of revenue, but with a 40% increase of viewers, to which the participants in the opening and closing ceremonies, and other cultural events organised during the festival are yet to be included.
Among them were more than 200 students who attended the surrounding area of the García Lorca school, close to the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), to see the work of one of the most recognised street artists in Italy in person. After having left her mark in major cities in five continents such as London, New York, Sydney, Singapore and Marrakech, Pasquini is the first Italian artist to leave her signature in the Soho area of Málaga along with prominent urban artists such as D*Face, Obey and Roa, among others. Thanks to Marta Gargiulo, coordinator of the work, Pasquini had access to a wall of 24 metres in length to express her “idea of hope and equality for a better world.”
“In my works, I talk about relationships between people and human feelings. In this case I have painted the Mediterranean sea as the meeting point of several characters emerging from the water and I want to leave a clear message to the city: we all swim in the same waters. I would like to thank the Italian Film Festival in Málaga and the Dante Alighieri Society for contributions like this to Italian culture around the world”, the artist stated.
One of the characteristics of the format of the Italian Film Festival in Malaga are the discussions between the actors, actresses and directors of the films with the attending audience, which take place after each screening, “maintaining in this way a live dialogue with culture”, the director of the festival indicates. “Cinema offers a tight link with the society in which it is produced, because every film’s production process has a unique place in a social context. Therefore, it is a tool that plays an important role in getting to know the mindset of each nation; this is the great contribution of the sociology of cinema to humanity”, he adds.
In this edition, the rising star of Italian cinema, Gaia di Pietro, was present at the screening of ‘Calcinculo’ and was able to tell the audience how the interpretation of her difficult character was created.
The president of the Dante Alighieri Society in Málaga, Giovanni Caprara, thanked the hard work of Nicola Labate, Co-Director of the Festival, “on the proposal, selection and launch of current and top-quality films of Italian cinema for this 6th edition of the Festival”. Similarly, Caprara was very satisfied with the production of the Festival and with the impact it has had on a local level with this edition: “spectators have come from different parts of the province. This shows that we have put the name on the map, both for the Dante Alighieri Society as well as the Festival and Italian culture. It has had a great impact, both among audiences as well as the media. Today we are one day closer to the next edition in 2024”.
About the Italian Film Festival in Málaga
The Italian Film Festival in Málaga was born in 2018 as an expression of the strong will of the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian language and culture through different events, which use the seventh art as the main form of artistic expression. https://fcimalaga.es
About the Dante Alighieri Society in Málaga
The Dante Alighieri Society is an Italian cultural association founded in Rome in 1889 with the main objective of spreading Italian language and culture around the world.
The headquarters in Málaga were founded in 2005 and are located in the historic centre of the city, in Plaza Uncibay 9. The work carried out by the association is focused mainly on the organisation of Italian language courses and on the celebration of cultural events each of different nature intended for both lovers of Italian culture, as well as for anybody who shows an interest in the Italian language. https://www.ladante.es
About Alice Pasquini
Alice Pasquini, Italian artist of international and contemporary cultural fame, leaves behind her roots and implements her artistic technique in urban art projects across every continent. Her art is shown in galleries, museums and urban spaces in over 100 cities around the world. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Art in Rome and has lived and worked in Great Britain, France and Spain. During her time in Madrid in particular, she took classes in animation at the School of Arts and Animation, receiving a diploma in Critical Art Studies from the Complutense University. The Roman artist, both in her role as a street artist and as a painter, illustrator and set designer, has developed different competencies in her research: in particular, she has explored feminine vitality and formally manipulated the three-dimensional possibilities of her work. Sydney, New York, Barcelona, Oslo, Moscow, Paris, Copenhagen, Marrakech, Berlin, Ho Chi Minh City, Madrid, London, Toronto and Rome are some of the cities in which it is possible to find her work. https://www.alicepasquini.com/it/news
