It is going to be a special Sardinia Film Festival the one that from the 26th June to the 1st July will bring at the prestigious venue of “Lo Quarter” in Alghero a great cinema party among projections, masterclasses, happy hours with the authors, presentations of books and much more.

In the magical setting of Riviera del Corallo “a world of short films” is coming from over sixty countries of the world, enriched with the excellent-name appearance of worldwide cinematography as the producer Gianluca Arcopinto and the director of photography Giuseppe Lanci, not to mention such a “giant” like the Hungarian film director Béla Tarr, that will be awarded with the Career Award.

After eleven editions in Sassari, the new Alghero’s appointment is going to be a new thrilling challenge for the international short film award organized by Sassari Cineclub Ficc, that this year enjoys the partnership of Mayor of Alghero and of Meta Foundation, with Cineclub Diaries as a media-partner. A challenge that has the taste of new incentives for a confrontation with an audience that becomes more and more international.

The themes of the works are several and they prove how universal are the questions regarding job issues, home, child exploitation, social unrest about migrations and about integration of escaping populations in territories that host them, and how much these are a matter of concern to the authors worldwide.

There is a strong excitement for the presence of great protagonists of the cinema. «Finally we succeeded to bring Béla Tarr in Sardinia, who’s not the only big-appeal personality this year. – SFF artistic director Carlo Dessì confirms with great satisfaction – We’re always looking for authors that make a different kind of cinema, not necessarily easy, that can give an alternative view of life through the cinema».

Béla Tarr is a nonconformist, enigmatic and praised film director, Jury Grand Prix-awarded at Berlin International Film Festival 2011 for his “The Turin horse”. The creator of “Damnation” and of  “Satantango”, a monumental seven-hours-and-half-masterpiece, became famous for his style rich in long sequence shot, for his black and white shooting, as much as his talent on exploring the human being in its deepest forms.

Béla Tarr, Lanci and Arcopinto will host a masterclass each, free-entry and great calibre but limited-entry meetings, made in cooperation with Sardegna Film Commission Foundation and Meta Foundation. All three of them will meet the audience during the aperitifs with the author promoted by Berchidda’s Wine Museum in collaboration with Sella & Mosca.

Beyond the great guests, as regards the sections of the competition, this year Italian Fiction, International Fiction, International Documentary and Sardinia Showcase are included at Sardinia Film Festival. Also, at Lo Quarter will be published VideoArt e Experimental award-winning works, host as a preview by the Academy of Fine Arts in Sassari on 15th e 16th June.

For the second year, the Festival involves also Bancali prison, cooperating with the directorate, the treatment area, the prison officers and the guarantor of the rights of the convicted people, in order to give to a limited jury of inmates the opportunity to analyze a specific section.

Really significant are the international partnerships with the Edinburgh Short Film Festival and the Irish Fastnet of Cork, with which is operative a constant confrontation in view of profitable cultural exchange, especially as a spreading vehicle of quality production that may normally not emerge.

THE SCHEDULE. An intense plan will start on Monday 26th June at 8:00 pm with a musical cinema-themed preview, followed by the real opening of the Festival will follow, at 9:00 pm, with screenings of short films coming from Edinburgh and Cork Festivals, in the presence of Festival partner representatives. Around 11:00 pm the audience will attend the projection of the first shortfilms in the competition.

On June 27th, the appointment is at 6:00 pm with Gianluca Arcopinto, film director and Academy of Italian Cinema member, known among the youngest film makers for being one of the most brave independent producers of Italian cinema. He will keep a master class on cinematographic production.

Arcopinto, at 8:00 pm, will introduce his book “Un fiume in piena, Storie di un’altra Scampia” during the aperitif with the author together with Marco Navone. The projection of the short films in competition is planned at 9:00 pm

On Wednesday the 28th, starting from 6:00 pm, Giuseppe Lanci will be the protagonist of a master class on cinema photography. Lanci is one of the greatest Italian directors of photography, with an impressive curriculum. He’s been a young  Marco Bellocchio’s “I pugni in tasca” and  Sergio Leone’s “Cera una volta il West” assistant until he built a stunning career as a director of photography of countless films, and he received many awards like the Silver Arriflex, David Di Donatello, Golden Ciak , Globo d’oro and Cineforum Award to name a few.

The aperitif with the author, at 8:00 pm, will be the opportunity to introduce “La luce come emozione” by Monica Pollini that will participate with Lanci, moderated by Sardegna Film Commission’s Mariangela Bruno. At 9:00 pm, the short films in competition will be projected.

On June 29th at 10:30 am the awaited moment will come with the arrival of such a giant as Béla Tarr at Lo Quarter, that will expose himself to the Sardinian press answering the questions of the journalists. At 6:00 pm, the Hungarian filmmaker will host his master class on cinema direction and then he will talk with Roberto Chiesi, Pier Paolo Pasolini Foundation person in charge and one of Cineteca di Bologna coordinators, throughout the happy hour at 8:00 pm.

At 9:00 pm, Bèla Tarr will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. To follow, the audience will be able to attend the extraordinary projection of two of his works, the short film “Pròlogus” and the “Werckmeister Harmonies”. An unmissable viewing for Tarr enthusiasts.

On Friday 30th June at 9:00 pm the last short films in competion will be projected after the musical preview at 8:30 pm. The award-winners will be declared on the 1st of July, at 9:00 pm.

SPONSORSHIPS AND REWARDS. With the arrival of Béla Tarr, the festival that brings Sardinia’s fame through the world achieves two others eminent sponsorships that join a long list appointed by high-level institutions, confirming its success as an internationally leading cultural event.

The first reward comes from Budapest University, where there is a prestigious cinema chair, and the second comes from Rome’s Hungarian Academy, authority that guides the cultural activity of Hungarian embassy in Italy.

Since 2012 The Sardinia Film Festival receives Italian Republic Presidency, Chamber of Deputies and Senate Presidency medals, and Council of Ministers Presidency, Farnesina, Mibact, Unicef Italian Commission, Sardinian Regional Council Presidency, Ficc (Italian Confederation of cinema associations) University of Sassari sponsorships. This year, all of them renewed their adhesion, proving the very high level of the initiative.

Besides, the cooperation with University of Sassari strengthens, thanks to three agreements concluded by the Cineclub with Polcoming, Dumas Department e Academy of Fine Arts “Mario Sironi”, giving the students the opportunity to join the Festival’s staff with University stages and to confront each other this way in the context of a great cinematographic experience.

COLLATERAL SECTIONS. The following SFF appointment, from the 17th to the 19th of August, will be the one in Villanova Monteleone, with the homonymous Italian Documentary Award, arrived at its 5th edition. The last stop, from the 30th of August to the 2nd of September, will be at the Bosa Animation Award, which will take place for the third consecutive year in the delightful Planargia touristic town and where the short films of the International Animation special section will be presented.

«Our festival grew in the big crisis time, that still continues – Sardinia Film Festival president Angelo Tantaro says – but the passionate organization of the historical Sassari Cineclub is based on a good close-knit group that feels the duty to endure the moral and cultural that undermined society. Many events born and die, Sardinia Film Festival experience resists and increases its scope involving an increansingly big amount of proposals and spectators».