From revolutionaries such as Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni to genre masters such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci to contemporary voices such as Alice Rohrwacher and Piero Messina, the world owes much to Italian cinema. However, as commercial theater franchises prioritize Hollywood blockbusters and local commercial releases and small cinematheques focus on local titles and independent films, there have been few avenues to discover and rediscover Italian cinema in the country.
As an answer to this, the MOVIEMOV Italian Film Festival has annually provided free access to Italian cinema to curious moviegoers in the Philippines. The festival is hosted by Play-Town, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the Philippine Italian Association, Embassy of Italy in the Philippines, and the Italian Ministry for Culture and Tourism (MIBACT) and is primarily youth-centered and educational. Now in its 11th year, MOVIEMOV continues its traditions by presenting eight Italian movies through a virtual theater, most of which are followed by a talkback session with the filmmakers and the actors involved. This year’s edition is made special by a tribute to luminary filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, in celebration of his 100th birth anniversary.
Though we were thousands of miles apart, I sat down with festival director Fabia Bettini to talk to her about developing this year’s program, celebrating Italian culture through cinema, and the future of the festival now that the cinemas are reopening. The interview was arranged by Marian Torre from FDCP and was translated with the assistance of Rachel Ann Greenwood.
What were your considerations when you were programming this year’s festival?
For us, it’s always important to promote new Italian cinema. So we chose a lot of first films but also big masters. So we can mix what is the history of our cinema with important directors like Marco Bellochio and Mario…