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GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL 1999 - 18.24 July

Sections & Films

SPOTLIGHTS ON A MASSACRE

Category: Edition 1999

Synopsis
Handicap International presents 10 short films on anti-personnel mines.

Original Title Spotlights on a Massacre
Italian Title Riflettori su un massacro
Category Out of competition
Section Angels and Devils
Tipology Documentary, TV Series
Production Year 1996
Nationality France
Directed by Youssef Chahine
Co-directors Pierre Jolivet, Mathieu Kassovitz Pavel Longuine, Rithy Panh, Volker Schlöndorff, Coline Serreau, Bertrand Tavernier, Fernando Trueba Jaco, Van Dormael

 regista youssef chahineYOUSSEF CHAHINE

Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1926) began to study in a friar school, before moving to English college until graduating from high school. After a year at the University of Alexandria, he moved to the United States and spent two years at the Pasadena Play House, taking courses in cinema and drama. After returning to Egypt, the filmmaker Alevise Orfanelli helped him in the world of cinema. His cinematic debut was Baba Amin (1950): a year later, with Ibn el Nil (1951) he was invited for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1970, he received a gold Tanit at the Carthage Festival. With Le moineau (1973), he directed the first Egyptian-Algeria co-production. He won a Silver Bear in Berlin for Iskanderija ... lih? (1979), the first episode of what turned out to be an autobiographical trilogy, completed with _adduta misrija (1982) _ and Iskanderija, kaman oue kaman (1989).
In 1992, Jacques Lassalle proposed to stage a piece of his choice for Comédie Française: Chahine chose to adapt the "Caligula" by Albert Camus, which was a huge success. The same year he began writing The Emigrant (1994), a story inspired by the biblical character of Joseph, son of Jacob. This was a dream project for a long time, and in the end he was able to shoot it in 1994. In 1997, 46 years and 5 invitations later, Hors Competition was again selected in Cannes with Il destino (1997).

 regista pierre jolivetPIERRE JOLIVET

Pierre Jolivet was born on 9 October 1952 in Saint-Mandé, in the Marne Valley, France. He is a writer and director, known for Le dernier combat (1983), Simple mortel (1991) and La truffa degli honest (1999).

 regista Mathieu KassovitzMATHIEU KASSOVITZ

Mathieu Kassovitz (Paris, 3 August 1967) is a French director, screenwriter and actor.
Born to a family of filmmakers (his mother Chantal Rémy works as editor, while his father Peter Kassovitz, a Jew who left Hungary in 1956, is a director and screenwriter), Mathieu Kassovitz makes his debut as an 11-year-old actor in the film Au bout du bout du banc, directed by his father, followed by sporadic appearances as an actor. At seventeen he leaves school and starts working as an assistant director. After directing some short films, including Cauchemar blanc (1991), awarded at Cannes, in 1993 he made his debut in the feature film with Meticcio, which earned him two nominations for the César Awards, for best first feature and best male promise.
After winning the César Prize as best male promise and the Jean Gabin Prize for his performance in Jacques Audiard's Regarde les hommes tomber (1994), he achieved the consecration as one of the most promising young authors of French cinema with his second work as director, L'hate (1995), which won the best director award at the 48th Cannes Film Festival and three César Awards, for best film, best editing and best producer (out of a total of eleven nominations, including those for best director and best screenplay). Later, he continued to carry on the activity behind the camera and the actor, in the service of important directors such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie's fabulous world), Costa-Gavras (Amen. earned a nomination for the César Awards for Best Actor) and Steven Spielberg (Munich).

 regista Pavel LunginPAVEL LONGUINE

Pavel Semënovič Lungin (Moscow, 12 July 1949), is a Russian director, screenwriter and film producer.
With his debut feature, Taxi Blues (Taksi-Blyuz), he won the Best Director Award at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

 regista Rithy PanhRITHY PANH

Rithy Panh (Phnom Penh, 18 April 1964) is a Cambodian film director, screenwriter and producer. He is mainly active in the field of documentaries.
To escape the Cambodian genocide of the '70s he first sought refuge in Thailand and then in France, where he studied at the film school and settled down. In 1989 he directed his first documentary (Site 2) narrating the condition of Cambodian refugees.
In 1994 he was selected to take part in the Cannes Festival with Neak sre.

 regista volker schlondorffVOLKER SCHLÖNDORFF

Volker Schlöndorff (Wiesbaden, 31 March 1939) is a German director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and editor.
Son of a doctor, in 1956 with his family he moved to Paris, where he completed his studies and graduated in Political Sciences. At the same time he forms his own cinematographic culture, like other contemporary filmmakers, attending the Cinémathèque every evening, where he sees hundreds of films (including many silent ones, which will be an important reference point for his work) and he also makes the simultaneous translator for films not subtitled in French. After attending IDHEC (Institut des hautes études cinématographiques), he enters the world of cinema playing the role of assistant for Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Resnais.
His directorial debut, in 1966, the disturbances of the young Törless, a transposition of Robert Musil's novel of the same name, was presented in competition at the 19th Cannes Film Festival, where he won the FIPRESCI Award. In 1969 he married the director Margarethe von Trotta, with whom in 1975 he shot The Katharina Blum case. He achieved international fame and recognition with Il tamburo di tin (Die Blechtrommel) (1979), winner of the Palme d'Or at the 32nd Cannes Film Festival and Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In the nineties he accepted the management of Studio Babelsberg.

 coline serreauCOLINE SERRAU

Coline Serreau (Paris, 29 October 1947) is a French director, screenwriter and actress.
She is considered one of the most acclaimed and most popular directors in France.
The daughter of writer Geneviève Serreau and director Jean-Marie Serreau, she studied literature, music, classical and modern dance; he attended the Paris Conservatory and the Fratelli Fratelli circus and trapezium school.
Attracted by the theater, she enters the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre (known as the rue Blanche School) in 1968 and perfected herself at the Comédie-Française in 1969. Little by little she moves towards writing for cinema and theater , directed by theater, cinema and opera.
In 1977, he knows a great critical success with his second film. Why not? played by Sami Frey, Mario Gonzales and Christine Murillo. The film is about a love trio composed of two men who live in pairs with their common partner.
In 1985, Three Men and a Cradle, with André Dussollier, Roland Giraud, Michel Boujenah, knows a huge success with more than 12 million entries, one of the records of French cinema, also confirmed by César for the best film and for the best supporting actor in Michel Boujenah. Follow Romuald & Juliette, The crisis! (César Award for Best Screenplay), The Green Planet (a scorching criticism of humanity), Chaos, 18 ans après, Saint-Jacques ... Mecque.
He has also written, interpreted and directed lyric and theatrical works.

 regista Bertrand TavernierBERTRAND TAVERNIER

Bertrand Tavernier was a law student who preferred to write film critics. He also wrote some books on American films. Then his first film won prizes in France and abroad and consolidated his reputation.

 regista Fernando TruebaFERNANDO TRUEBA

Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (Madrid, 18 January 1955) is a Spanish director and screenwriter.
He has directed several films, including La scimmia è irrazzato (1988), Belle Époque (1993), Two Much - Uno di troppo (1995), La niña dei sogni sogni (1998). He is the brother of the filmmaker and writer David Trueba.

 regista Jaco Van DormaelJACO VAN DORMAEL

Jaco Van Dormael (Ixelles, 9 February 1957) is a Belgian director, screenwriter and playwright.
During his career, Van Dormael has developed a new narrative and visual style that has made his films recognizable by audiences all over the world for their strong experimental component, the brilliant and dreamy sequences, the extremely suggestive sound. His films are known for the respectful and supportive representation of people with mental and physical disabilities.
Van Dormael spent his childhood traveling in Europe before studying film at INSAS in Brussels, where he wrote and directed his first short film, Maedeli la brèche (1981), winner of the honorary prize for the best foreign short film at the Student Academy Awards. His debut in cinema with Toto le héros - An End Millennium Hero (1991) was an immediate critical and public success and won the Caméra d'or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Five years later, Van Dormael was again awarded at Cannes on the eighth day (1996), when his main actors, Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, received the award for best male interpretation.