1st edition – Rome, Casa del Cinema 6 – 9 October 2016, Free Entry until seats are available

The first edition of the Aqua Film Festival will be held from the 6th to 9th of October 2016 at the Casa del Cinema in Rome and entry to the Festival will be free for as long as seats are available. AquaFilmFestival will host a festival of films dedicated to the precious and pure element that is the source of life, but it is also a venue for symposiums, workshops, seminars, talks, meetings, open forums, exhibitions, fashion shows, performances and specialized courses, including activities for kids focused on the theme of Water, and portrayed in its different forms and functions. The project is the brainchild of Eleonora Vallone, actress, journalist and water aerobics and methodologies in water expert.

The Festival is divided into thematic topics such as sport, culture and science, fashion and the arts and performances and will promote a cinematographic competition with 3 themes: FRESH Water, SEA Water and THERMAL Water organized in two sections: ‘Short-Films’ of 25’ minute maximum length and ‘Mini-Short Films’ of 3’ minute maximum length, including those made with mobile phones. Until 1th July 2016, it will be possible to send works to participate in the two sections, Shorts and Mini-Shorts by contacting aff@aquafilmfestival.org and visiting the website www.aquafilmfestival.org

A wide-ranging programme of screenings and meetings will enliven the Festival. The numerous films that have been sent to our selection committee, led by Giorgia Priolo, range from experimental video art of Subemergency, by the Italian Debora Vrizzi who graduated from Italian National Film School, to the documentary short The Diver by the talented young Mexican Esteban Arrangoiz, who has been acclaimed at some of the most prestigious Festivals (Berlin and Cannes), and who has made the topic of water and fundamental ecological problems the focal point of his work.    Animation in stop motion is represented by Grace under water, by the Australian Anthony Lawrence.

The Short Films will be judged and awarded prizes by a Jury made up by its chairman, film director Giancarlo Scarchilli; the author Pietro Belfiore; the singer Cecile; the Marketing Director of Comingsoon.it, Marco D’Ottavio; the actor Ludovico Fremont; the actress Paola Gassman; the Director of Photography Blasco Giurato; the actress and film director Simona Izzo; the writer and playwright Giuseppe Manfridi; the film editor Luca Montanari; the actress Elisabetta Pellini; the critic and presenter Dario Salvatori; the director Massimo Spano; the actor and director Ricky Tognazzi and the actor and dubber Luca Ward. The Festival also Scientific Committee chaired by Professor Giovanni Spagnoletti.

The Festival’s special events include the screening of the non-competing “The Answer. La risposta sei tu”, the first film directed by actor Ludovico Fremont (I Cesaroni; Scrivilo sui muri; Presto farà giorno). This dark fable relates to the interests and damage caused by the tobacco multinationals. The main character is twenty-year-old Angel, who decides to spend a few days by the lake with four friends, but the trip turns out to be a misadventure when they discover some dead animals, as well as finding their friend almost lifeless on the shores of the lake. The film – as the production emphasizes – “aims at guiding young people towards several important choices for their own well-being, and focusing on the environmental damage caused by the tobacco industry which destroys the universe, the harmfulness of unawareness and the devious interests of those who profit from smoking”. Elisabetta Sgarbi will present her Il pesce rosso dov’è? documentary at the festival, the third episode of the trilogy the director and author has made about the men and women of the Po delta. By means of the fishermen’s stories and accounts, Sgarbi’s film launches a warning cry for the state of health of this area of Italy.  Another special screening will be that of the documentary “The Pearl Button”, by the Chilean director Patricio Guzman. A pearl button encrusted in the rust of a rail at the bottom of the sea: this is a trace of the desaparecidos from Villa Grimaldi in Santiago, the huge Chilean centre for detention and torture during the Pinochet dictatorship. A river that flows and the tinkling of the waterfalls: this is the song of the water, which is the bedrock of the Selk’nam culture, a native South American population slaughtered by the colonizers. Two massacres and the memory of water: narrative keys to tell the story of a country – Chile – and its open wounds.

In the words of the Festivals Art Director, “The Aqua Film Festival sets out to enhance the element of Water as a source of life, energy, health and memory, to be loved, respected and feared, through images in movement captured by man in the form of a social message of freedom, of sport, art and awakening the awareness of those who have it in abundance and helping those countries who are lacking”.

The Aqua Film Festival is organized by the Universi Aqua voluntary Association, which brings together experts and specialists from the various spheres that represent water as Entertainment and in its different everyday aspects. Particular emphasis will be given to the work carried out daily by the Italian Navy, patrolling and safeguarding, and saving thousands of human lives and protecting this vast heritage. The Italian Navy is sensitive to environmental themes and to the support and backing of maritime education aimed at respecting and enhancing the importance of the sea as a vital resource for a peninsular country like Italy. The Navy makes its effective “and most naturally seagoing and ecological” resources, such as sailing boats and school-ships, available for the support of activities which promote and publicize these vital themes in collaboration with environmentalist associations like MAREVIVO. One of the Navy’s objectives is to standardize its fleet in order to minimize emissions by using alternative propellants with zero-emissions such as LNG.

Thanks to the patronage of CONI (Italian Olympic Games Committee), we will underline the importance of water sports for our health and knowledge of nature, as well as hosting the great champions who have made us proud all over the world. Enjoys also the prestigious patronage of the Ministry of Education Region Lazio.
The partners of this first edition include: FIPSAS (Italian federation Watersports) will provide relevant video contributions and participation of sports representatives of the highest international level; Amref Health Africa, the biggest African non-profit health organization, which has been working and helping in the African continent since 1957. Amref has always stated that, healthiness comes about from within the local communities. It is by means of actively involving the local population, staff and public health systems that long-term improvement is brought about. For this reason, the protagonists of these changes are themselves the beneficiaries of the assistance and 97% of the personnel working with Amref in Africa is African. So that every day Africans may look after Africa. Amref is currently working in 26 countries south of the Sahara with 172 projects for the promotion of health and its health centres and mobile units guarantee health and medical care for the nomadic and rural populations. Aqua Film Festival also benefits from the support of the Foundation Prince Albert II of Monaco (www.fpa2.com), which works for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development on a global scale. Marevivo is also a partner – their boat will host the press conference on 15^th June 2016 – and is a national association with thirty years experience in the protection and safeguard of the sea and its precious resources. For its activities in Italy and abroad, it benefits from the support of scientific and legal committees, 30 territorial delegations, a sub-aqua division and a widespread organization of members and volunteers. Media partner of the festival, Coming Soon, are leading publishers in film promotion with the www.comingsoon.it website and the most used app for film lovers for tablets and smart phones (Coming Soon Cinema). Our Sponsor, the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, the Italian National Cinema School, is a sector of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia dedicated to the teaching of cinema professions, and offers a teaching programme structured according to interdisciplinary fields and aimed at specific training for direction, scriptwriting and screenplay, acting, photography, editing, sound and audio engineering, production, set design and decoration and costume design, and has the objective of discovering and develop new talents. Our technical Sponsor is Aquaniene The Sport Club, a meeting point open to the public and all those who love sport and share in its values, born from the passion, the courage and the determination that have always characterized the sporting philosophy of the Circolo Canottieri Aniene Rowing Club.

For further information:

www.aquafilmfestival.org | aff@aquafilmfestival.org

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