Moviemov Italian Cinema Philippines 2021 will run its 10th edition online from February 1 to 6, with a tribute to Pinocchio plus two new side events.

The best of the new Italian cinema comes to the Philippines through the annual Italian Film Festival a.k.a. MovieMov Italian Cinema Philippines 2021. Audiences from around the country can view eight (8) contemporary films from 2019-2020 of mostly drama genre for FREE. Like last year’s festival, the event is staged on a real virtual cinema where audiences can select seats and interact with directors and actors via a chatbox via MyMovies.

This year, for the first time, Moviemov Italian Cinema Philippines has three parts: Moviemov Showcase, Moviemov Industry, and a Social Segment.

MovieMov Showcase (2021 Film Line Up)

The festival will pay tribute to Pinocchio, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the first appearance of the famous character, the protagonist of  Carlo Collodi’s children’s novel, initially published serially on the weekly “Giornale per i bambini” (Children’s newspaper), between 1881 and 1882. The tribute will navigate through literature and cinema, with detailed “focus on” and masterclasses, and it will be organized thanks to the Embassy of Italy in Manila, and in collaboration with PIA and Ateneo de Naga University Press.

Volevo Nascondermi / Hidden Away
2020 | Italy | Drama | R 18 | 120 min | Giorgio Diritti

Antonio is expelled from Switzerland to Italy against his will. For years he lives in poverty in the Po floodplains, but he never gives up his passion for drawing. The story of Antonio Ligabue, a revolutionary loner in modern art.

Puntasacra
2020 | Italy | Docu-Fiction | R 11 | 96 min | Francesca Mazzoleni

The last patch of land – the last triangle of habitable space at the mouth of the Tiber. Its inhabitants call it Punta Sacra, Sacred Point. Realism and imagination constantly intertwine in this suburb of Rome, where Franca leads an all-female community. A family hanging between nostalgia and an inevitable pragmatism, constantly struggling between a strong sense of belonging and the lack of opportunities for the new generations.

Padrenostro
2020 | Italy | Drama | R 13 | 121 min | Claudio Noce

Rome, 1976. Valerio (10) is a boy with a vivid imagination whose life falls apart when he witnesses a group of terrorists attempts to take his father’s life. The impact on the family is dramatic, and everybody is overwhelmed with feelings of fear and vulnerability when a new boy arrives on the scene.

PALAZZO DI GIUSTIZIA / Ordinary Justice
2020 | Italy/Switzerland | Drama | R 13 | 84 min | Chiara Bellosi

A day of ordinary justice in a large Italian courthouse. At the center, in the heart of the building, a hearing. We see rituals, robes, interrogations, evidence, witnesses. Two girls wait in front of a closed courtroom door.

I Predatori
2020 | Italy | Comedy, Drama | R 14 | 109 min | Pietro Castellitto

This is the story of two households that are complete opposites: the Pavone and Vismara families. One bourgeois and intellectual and the other proletarian and Fascist, these apparently contrary family units share the same jungle: Rome. A trivial accident will bring these two poles together.

Pinocchio
2019 | Italy/France | Drama | G | 124 min | Matteo Garrone

In this new imagining of the iconic classic beloved around the world, Matteo Garrone returns to the authentic roots of the Pinocchio story. With this groundbreaking live-action film shot in stunning Italian locations, Garrone creates a rich fantasy world of mystery and wonder, filled with luminous, funny, and touching moments.

Non Odiare / Thou Shalt Not Hate
2020 | Italy/Poland | Drama | R 13 | 95 min | Mauro Manchini

The son of a Holocaust survivor who lives in Trieste as a surgeon begins to doubt his actions of refusing to help a victim of a traffic accident that he encountered on his way home from work.

Il Mio Corpo
2020 | Switzerland/Italy | Docu-Fiction | R 11 | 82 min | Michele Pennetta

Oscar, the young Sicilian, and Stanley the Nigerian don’t seem to have much in common. Except for the feeling of being thrown into the world, to suffer the same refusal, the same overwhelming wave of choices imposed on them by others.

Admission & Screening Schedule

Screenings are FREE via the e-venue: https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/moviemov/. No registration needed but note that the virtual movie theater can only accommodate 300 slots per film on a first-come, first-serve basis. All films will be shown in their original language (Italian) with English subtitles.

Moviemov Industry

An online business section with dedicated screenings and meetings will be organized with the purpose of promoting audiovisual products through dedicated screenings for buyers, panel discussions, and online meetings, among others. A virtual fair experience, supported by a digital and secure tool for international relations activities, allows us to provide to Italian and Filipino professionals an opportunity to be visible, to explore co-production, funding, and distribution of the most interesting and recent audiovisual products.

The Industry section is made possible thanks to the support of Ass.For.SEO, the funding by Regione Lazio and MOVIE UP 2020 and will be organized in collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

Special Social Segment

A social segment, on the other hand, will represent a bridge of dialogue between Italy and the Philippines, a spotlight on realities that are often hidden but can emerge thanks to the power of images. For this edition, Moviemov will shed a light on the terrible fire that destroyed the homes of a Filipino community in Rome last August. The short film, Princess, directed by Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino, tells of a silent community that lives on the edge of the river, in the center of Rome: men and women whose existence is ignored. As in an Italian Parasite, the protagonists of the short film are invisible to the city, and while the adults try to save what is left of their lives, three little girls imagine that to have a new home, it is enough to make a wish. A short film that has the great ambition of erasing the distance and put in contact worlds that are only seemingly disconnected.

MovieMov Italian Film Festival is produced and organized by cultural association Playtownroma. Moviemov Italian Cinema Philippines 2021 is organized with the support of the Italian Embassy, the collaboration of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Philippine Italian Association, Ateneo de Naga, Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan, De La Salle University Bacolod (Institute of the Moving Image), De La Salle University Manila, College of Saint Benilde School of Arts and Design, and University of the Philippines Diliman Film Institute.

Visit the MovieMov official Facebook page and the MovieMov 2021’s event page for updates.