Program
2024
Info
Highlights PFF60
Pesaro 60
by Pedro Armocida
It feels so much more lonely on this special journey with the Pesaro Film Festival. 60 editions in which Adriano Aprà, who died last April 15, always participated, as a viewer on the first edition of 1965, and as a collaborator from 1966 onwards, without interruptions, until he directed it for almost a decade, from 1990 to 1998, leaving an extraordinarily innovative mark. Adriano, whom we remember and pay tribute to, was also an exceptional spectator of the recent editions, as he used to watch ALL the screenings (speaking of certain militant critics...) along with Bruno Torri – co-founder of the PFF with Lino Miccichè – who now follows us from a distance. It feels much more lonely even though, like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, we have attempted to learn to work in the footsteps of what has already been done all the while trying to intercept what will be done in a special year for Pesaro, a “place of the spirit” according to Pier Paolo Pasolini, now the Italian capital of culture.
Therefore, the programme’s soul, i.e., the Competition, nurtures a privileged connection with its glorious past, including through a jury composed of three outstanding representatives of the new international cinema, all of whom celebrated with dedicated screenings. The Competition also plays a bridge role with the outlooks on the future showcased in the many sections of a Festival that is wide open to working in the various film formats, some of which now hardly visible on the big screen, from Super 8 to 35mm, to music videos. On top of everything, the PFF seeks a dialogue with the different audiences, which Adriano would always tell me not to underestimate. And he was right.
In memory of Adriano Aprà
Friday, June 21
Palazzo Gradari
Ore 10:00
Matinée - Un caffè a Palazzo Gradari Omaggio Adriano Aprà
Will be present: Pedro Armocida, Fulvio Baglivi, Rinaldo Censi, Bruno Di Marino, Cecilia Ermini, Stefania Parigi, Patrizia Pistagnesi, Giacomo Ravesi, Federico Rossin, Claver Salizzato, Mauro Santini, Gianmarco Torri.
Teatro Sperimentale – Sala Grande
Ore 17:30
ROSSELLINI VISTO DA ROSSELLINI (Italia, 1993, 62’) di Adriano Aprà
Saturday, June 22
Teatro Sperimentale - Sala Pasolini
Ore 17:45
OLIMPIA AGLI AMICI (Italia, 1970, 80’) di Adriano Aprà
Opening theme and poster design
by Gianluigi Toccafondo.
Director and writer: Gianluigi Toccafondo
Editing: Marco Molinelli
Voices: Valeria Sturba, Vincenzo Vasi
“The lamp turns on, an eye is watching through the viewfinder, the film strip begins to run, the machine of cinema takes life again, and the show is on: the count-down numbers wake up old figures like vampires and dark ladies, monsters and princesses – all the celluloid faces morph into each other and ride on the merry-go-round of cinema, while voices alternate on the gramophone that plays melodies from the past.” (Gianluigi Toccafondo)
A painter, illustrator and filmmaker born in San Marino in 1965, Gianluigi Toccafondo studied at the Istituto d’Arte in Urbino. He lives in Bologna. He has been making animated short films since 1989. He began collaborating with Arte France in 1992. In 2000, he made a short dedicated to Pasolini, Essere morti o essere vivi è la stessa cosa. He has been designing TV opening themes for RAI (Italian Radio and Television) since 1993. He creates animated logos and opening themes for cinema (More Cinema More Europa, Biennale di Venezia, Scott free, Fandango, Cineteca Bologna) and commercials - Levi’s, Sambuca Molinari, United Arrows. He drew the book covers of Fandango Libri 1999 through 2011. He illustrated many books, including The Call of the Wild by Jack London; Yolanda, the Black Corsair’s Daughter by Emilio Salgari; La favola del pesce cambiato by Emma Dante; Pinocchio; Favola del gattino che voleva diventare il gatto con gli stivali by Ugo Cornia; Los girasoles ciegos by Alberto Méndez; and El tango de la vuelta by Julio Cortazar.
He was Matteo Garrone’s assistant director on Gomorra. In 2013, he made the animations for Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula, directed by Barberio Corsetti at the Bari Teatro Petruzzelli. From 2014 to 2021, he collaborated with the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome designing posters for the opera and ballet seasons; sets, videos and costumes for Figaro!, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto OperaCamion. His films and drawings have been shown in several solo exhibitions and screenings including New York Lincoln Center, Forum des images in Paris, Rome Academy of France, and Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago.
ALL PROJECTIONS
ARE FREE
Piazza del Popolo
Located in between the cardo and decumano of the ancient roman city, Piazza del Popolo is the main square in Pesaro and owes its present structure to various renovation works throughout the centuries. The City Hall building – right next to Teatro Sperimentale – the Prefecture and the Central Post Office overlook the square.
Since 2000, during the Pesaro Film Festival the square becomes a huge open-air cinema for evening projections, hosting up to 800 sits.
Teatro Cinema
Sperimentale
Built in the same year as the first edition of the Festival and refurbished in 1994, the Teatro Cinema Sperimentale is located in the rear part of the City Hall building. At its entrance visitors can read a quote from the native poet Odoardo Giansanti to whom the theatre is dedicated. Since its foundation, it has become one of the most active places in the city’s cultural life: it is the historical headquarter of the Festival and every year it hosts numerous events such as dance recitals, theatre plays, conferences and concerts.
Inside the building, two theatre-rooms have been built: the Sala Grande (495 sits:355 in the parterre and 140 in the balcony), and a smaller theatre that in 2015, during the 50+1 festival edition was named after Pier Paolo Pasolini. With its 75 sits, it is dedicated to shorter projections and smaller events.
Cinema on the Beach
The Cinema on the beach is one of most recent innovations of the Festival. Since 2018, the organisers of the Festival decided to project some movies in the most suggestive location in Pesaro: right next to the sea, on the beach. The audience really appreciates this new location which with its 100 sits offers a unique experience that puts together the magic of the seaside and that of the cinema.
Palazzo Gradari
Palazzo Gradari and its courtyard represent one of the most lively and animated locations of the Festival.
The building is the headquarter of the Rossini Opera Festival administration and will soon host the University of Urbino. However, during the Festival week, some of its rooms and the courtyard become the home of respectively the organisers’ offices and the night events. In some parts of the building, there are the press and the hospitality offices and the management offices while in the courtyard students and journalists interview directors, meet some guests or produce their works about the Festival. In addition, after midnight and when all the shows are over, the special event Il Muro del Suono takes place in the courtyard. Here, cinema and music blend and give life to special nights of live music and other kinds of experimental performances creating the perfect atmosphere to end a busy day of movies and workshops.
spazio bianco
A project that has grown up within the International Exhibition of New Cinema, which for the 56th edition finds its fulfillment in a video-photographic installation, in the new city space dedicated to photography, thanks to the Pescheria Foundation - Visual Arts Center: white space is, for the Exhibition as for the city of Pesaro, a new point of reference not only for exhibitions and installations, but above all for meetings and workshops.
CTE - Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti
CTE Square, Home of Emerging Technologies aims to support research and experimentation projects with the intention of transferring technological know-how to small and medium-sized enterprises in order to produce more and better quality services. Our universities and the project's partner companies will move into different areas of innovation: from blockchain to artificial intelligence, from 5 and 6G to the metaverse with a single mission: to increase the competitiveness of territories.
Hopsitality
and Refreshment
The Pesaro Film Festival is happy to welcome every year several important guests to whom we offer a comfortable and cosy experience in our city. Following, a list of hotels and restaurants in partnership with the Festival. All the hotels are located in the most vibrant area of the city, the seaside, while the restaurants are in the city centre, a few steps away from the main places of the Festival.
HOTELS
HOTEL SAVOY
Viale Della Repubblica, 22
Telefono: 0721 67440
www.hotelsavoypesaro.it
HOTEL HOLIDAY
Viale Trento, 161
Telefono: 0721 34851
www.hotelholidaypesaro.it
GRAND HOTEL VITTORIA
Piazzale della Libertà, 2
Telefono: 0721 34343
www.grandhotelvittoriapesaro.it
HOTEL CAPITOL
Viale Rovereto, 19
Telefono: 0721 35123
www.hotelcapitolpesaro.it
HOTEL CARAVAN
Viale Monfalcone, 58
Telefono: 0721 64513
hotelcaravan.it
HOTEL ROSSINI
Viale Guglielmo Marconi, 44
Telefono: 0721 371234
www.hotelrossini.it
HOTEL CHARLIE
Viale Trieste, 281
Telefono: 0721 622090
www.charliehotels.it
HOTEL AMBASSADOR
Viale Trieste 291
0721 371527
www.ambassadorpesaro.it
HOTEL EXCELSIOR
Lungomare Nazario Sauro
0721/630011
www.excelsiorpesaro.it
HOTEL PRESIDENT
Lungomare Nazario Sauro, 33
338 3413425
www.hotelpresidentspesaro.it
HOTEL BELLEVUE
Viale Trieste, 88
0721 31970
www.bellevuehotel.net
RESTAURANTS
GRA, NON SOLO CIBO DA CORTILE
Via Gioachino Rossini 24
Telefono 0721 1711769
RISTORANTE ALLA VOLTA
Via Mazzolari 54
Telefono 0721 1534188
PIADIFICIO
Largo Aldo Moro, 10
Telefono: 0721 865464
piadificio.it
RISTORANTE ULDERGO
Via Venturini, 24
Telefono: 0721 68029
www.ristoranteuldergo.com
OPERA, TRATTORIA CONTEMPORANEA DI QUARTIERE
Via Nicola Sabbatini 24
Telefono 379 2144613
MOSTRA INTERNAZIONALE
DEL NUOVO CINEMA
PESARO
The Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema (Pesaro Film Festival) is one of the most important Italian film festivals. Created and planned in Rome by Lino Miccichè and Bruno Torri at the end of 1964, but organised it in Pesaro since its first edition (May 29 – June 6, 1965), the Festival is promoted, financed and managed by Fondazione Pesaro Nuovo Cinema Onlus, in partnership with Comune di Pesaro; Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino; Regione Marche; Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali and the European Union MEDIA programme.
Through all these years, next to the main summer editions, the Festival has organised several spin-off events such as the Evento Speciale which takes place at the same time of the Festival and is entirely dedicated to Italian cinema.
During fall, some other cinematographic events in cities like Rome, New York, Berlin and Paris are organised, as well as two events in Pesaro, namely the Rassegna internazionale retrospettiva (originally taking place in Ancona) and the International Conference on cinema studies (first editions in Urbino).
Since the very beginning, the main goal was to organise a non-competitive festival mainly focusing on first works and aiming in particular to walk through new ways and choices that are able to start processes of growth, improvement and evolution of cinema in the world. In presenting first works we intend to discover what’s new in the world of young film directors, but also to make their works visible and known to an audience that shares with them ideals, cultural needs and the urgency to break old habits avoiding conformism and mere business. While moving its first steps, the Festival treasured the experience of other Italian and international events – such as the Festival del Cinema Latinoamericano of Santa Margherita Ligure, Sestri and Genoa and the Mostra internazionale del cinema libero di Porretta Terme, and the Sémain international de la critique – but now it has become an implicit and/or explicit model for many similar events in Italy (festivals of Bergamo, Salsomaggiore, Turin etc.) and around Europe (Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Berlin). Certainly, what all these institutions have in common is a specific unity of purposes and the same will to defend and spread the values of a cinema that could be different and truly new.
