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Home , Carlo Verdone, Giorgio Diritti, Pupi Avati, Roberto Faenza

CARLO VERDONE TO OPEN FESTIVAL “FOCUS” ON Dates for the 2009 Est Film Festival officially released: Cinema returns to Montefiascone from July 25th to August 2nd

EST FILM FESTIVAL (www.estfilmfestival.it) – produced by Arcopublic (www.arcopublic.it), in collaboration with the media partner magazine www.cinemadelsilenzio.it and promoted by the Lazio Region, Viterbo Province, the Viterbo Chamber of Commerce, Montefiascone City and RomaLazioFilmCommission – will celebrate its 3rd anniversary from July 25th to August 2nd 2009 at Montefiascone (Vt), with nine days of great cinema COMPLETELY FREE to the public.

After the success of last year’s EST FILM FESTIVAL, (over 8000 people attending over one week), with prestigious guests like , , , , Francesco Patierno and Carmine Amoroso, winner of the 2008 Arco for "Cover Boy", this year’s festival aims to involve the whole of the Tuscia area in a cultural programme packed with cinematographic and other events.

A BRIEF PREVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME will be the chief guest at the inauguration. He will meet the public and receive a Special lifetime achievement award during the inauguration ceremony at 6 pm on Saturday July 25th at Rocca dei Papi. Also present will be Giulia Rodano (Lazio Region Cultural Councillor), Alessandro Mazzoli (President of the Viterbo Province), the Mayor of Montefiascone, Luciano Ventanni (Director General of Banca Cattolica), Sergio Finesso (Director General of Italiana Assicurazioni), Paolo Cavalli (Director of Postal Services, Viterbo Province), Renato Trapè (President, Acropoli Association), Riccardo Rizzo and Vaniel Maestosi (Art Directors of Est Film Festival). After the end of the function, the traditional opening night concert will be held at 10 pm in the “Giardini della Rocca”, in collaboration with Viterbo JazzUp Festival - with Javier Girotto & Aires Tango, world famous artists known to the public for their ability to blend tango with jazz, inspired by Astor Piazzolla.

Carlo Verdone will be a guest of the festival once again on July 26th, when he relives his cinema career "under the stars" with the public in Piazzale Frigo, viewing clips from his films. On the same day, the on-going collaboration of the film festival with Amnesty International will be highlighted in a meeting at 11.00 am at Rocca dei Papi, with the Director of Communications Riccardo Noury. There will be a special projection of the film "Come un uomo sulla Terra" (Like a man on earth) by Andrea Segre and Dagmawi Yimer produced in collaboration with Riccardo Biadene. In this documentary film, the voices of immigrants tell of the brutal ways in which Libya controls the movement of migrants, in response to demands and financing from and Europe.

Roberto Faenza will be the protagonist of “Focus” this year. Two full days will be dedicated to the director from – July 30th and 31st – during which his principal works will be shown. At the end of each film the director will meet members of the public to discuss it and exchange ideas with them.

On Thursday July 30 at 11 am, the inaugural film of “Focus” will be shown in the Innocenzo III room of Rocca dei Papi. The theme of the film, "I Viceré" (The Viceroys) (2007), is the history of Sicily during the Bourbon reign in Italy told through the story of the noble Uzeda family, from its head Prince Giacomo to his son and heir Consalvo, with references to symbolic personalities of the time. The film "Prendimi l'anima" (Take my soul) (2002) will be shown at 5:30 pm on the same day at Rocca. It is a complicated love story between a doctor and his patient set in Switzerland in the early 1900s.

The next day’s “focus” film (11 am on Friday 31st July at Rocca) will be "I giorni dell'abbandono" (The days of abandonment) (2005), starring and and set in contemporary Turin. It deals with the problems a couple has in their relationship, with unfaithfulness, desertion and the resulting desperation. Roberto Faenza’s concluding film "Il caso dell'infedele Klara" (The case of unfaithful Klara) (2008) will be shown at 10 pm in Piazzale Frigo. This film starring and was released last March and is a hot- blooded comedy full of intrigue and surprising developments.

The Chairman of the Jury this year will be the actor Luca Lionello. He starred in Carmine Amoroso’s film "Cover Boy" winner of the 2008 Est Film Festival prize. The films will compete for the Arco d'Oro prize and 7,000 euro, which will be assigned by a jury made up of journalists and film professionals. Every evening after the film the public can vote to decide which film will receive the Premio del Pubblico (Spectator’s prize) worth 2,000 euro. The “Arco d'Argento” prize and 2,000 euro will be awarded in the “Maratona Corti” (short films) category. In this case the panel of judges is made up of the best students from the Tuscia University and chaired by their representative Marco Vaccari. Another panel of judges made up of representatives of the Acropoli Association and chaired by Giancarlo Breccola, will award the Acropoli prize, an “Arco d'Argento” and 2,000 euro to the best film in the Documentary section. The city will award the Montefiascone prize to its guests in the Elite Section.

THE FULL PROGRAMME of the Festival will be presented officially on July 7th after the Italian PRESS CONFERENCE at the Lazio Region Offices.

For more information and to see the photographs of last year’s festival go to: www.estfilmfestival.it

Live coverage of the festival You can follow what is happening every day at the 2009 festival. The “news” section on the www.estfilmfestival.it site will be updated in real time. Directions to get to the Festival locations as well as information on special rates for hotels and restaurants in Montefiascone are also available on the site.