Like every year, the Umbria Film Festival returns to Montone July 5-9, bringing Italian premieres and previews of international films from the most prestigious Film Festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, and Venice. All movies will be screened in original language, subtitled in English and Italian. Here are revealing the films and the special guest chosen by the new AD, Teresa Mignolli and Rachele Parietti.
“Blue Jean”
Running time 97′, screened at Venice Days in 2022.
England, 1988. Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government has introduced Section 28, a clause in the Local Government Act that seeks to ban “the promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities throughout the United Kingdom. For Jean, a gym teacher whose sexuality is a secret from her colleagues, the threat is immediate and real: if discovered, her love life could cost her her job. With her debut feature, director Georgia Oakley succeeds in staging overwhelming passions, desire, and anger, but she succeeds above all in making it almost tangible at a distance, in giving a measure to women’s space, always decided by others.
“Luxembourg, Luxembourg”
Running 105′, original title Lyuksemburh, this is the second film by Ukrainian director and screenwriter Antonio Lukich presented in the Orizzonti section of Venice last year.
It tells, in the form of a comedy, the story of the competition experienced by two twin brothers who were abandoned by their father when they were still young.The everyday life of Kolya and Vasily, is turned upside down when they discover that their father is dying in Luxembourg, far away from them. One of them wants to go looking for his father, while the other does everything to prevent him from doing so. So they both find themselves in Luxembourg searching for their father: Kolya considers him a hero, while Vasily considers him a scoundrel.
“La Sirène”
Running time 100′, directed by Sepideh Farsi, screenplay by Javad Djavahery.
The film will have its Italian premiere at the Umbria Film Festival, having recently been shown at the Berlin Film Festival. The Iranian director elaborates a compelling pacifist narrative by retracing the 1980 attacks by Iraqi forces on the Iranian city of Abadan.
The film not only recounts the fall of the city, but also focuses on its inhabitants, who are often overlooked in accounts of the events. The oil metropolis of Abadan descends into chaos, and 14-year-old Omid, who works as a delivery boy, is searching for his missing brother and a way out of the besieged city. The film is depicted entirely in 2D animation and is a French-German-Luxembourg-Belgian co-production.
“War Pony”
Running 115′, it marks the directorial debut for producer Gina Gammell and actress Riley Keough, who develop the subject written by Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy about life on Indian reservations.
A film about Natives, written and narrated by Natives, it won the Caméra d’Or for best debut at Cannes 2022, where it was selected in Un Certain Regard. The title refers to what the Natives used to call their horses, develops around its two young protagonists, putting itself on the side of the characters with a direction that is never invasive, rarefied and semi-documentary.
This year the keys to the city will be awarded to Danish actress Trine Dyrholm.
The ceremony will take place on Saturday, July 8, and the actress will meet the audience discussing her career before the screening of “The Commune” (Thomas Vinterberg, 2016), which won her the Silver Bear in Berlin for Best Actress.
To round out the Festival program, in addition to feature films, a children’s shorts category with 13 animated productions is also included.
The full schedule of dates and times of events will soon be available on the festival website.