28 Times Cinema

Fifteen young women and thirteen young men, with ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-five, will meet for the first time in Venice, on August 30th, and will spend the next two weeks together in a program packed with meetings, debates, and, naturally, screenings. Strangers linked by a shared love of film, the lucky twenty-eight have been selected by the theaters in the Europa Cinemas network from their pool of local filmgoers. At Venice, in fact, each of them will be representing a movie theater, one for each European Union country.

Since 2014, the members of the 28 Times Cinema team have been assigning the Giornate degli Autori Award, forming one of the largest and most unusual juries on the international film festival scene. This year, for the first time, a woman will be presiding over the 28 Times Cinema jury: Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf, two-time winner of the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Blackboards (2000) and At Five in the Afternoon (2003). Makhmalbaf will be guiding the rest of the jurors in their debates over the films in the Giornate's official selection. "Samira is an immensely talented artist, with an impressive career to her credit at an early age, and she has a lot to give to the Giornate Jury: her freshness, the purity of her filmmaker's gaze and a vivacity that will encourage her whole young team in this adventure. We are proud that, for the first time, the face of the Giornate is going to be that of a woman and a great filmmaker," declared Giorgio Gosetti, director of the Giornate degli Autori.

As has been the custom since the first edition of the award, Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary Festival, member of the selection committee for the LUX Prize and also jury member for Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2017, will have the task of introducing each film that comes up for discussion, placing it in the context of the filmmaker's career and specific style.

 

"Together with the jury president," Och explains, "we try to show the jury members some new ways to think about films and moviemaking from perspectives they might not be aware of, doing so, however, in a sensitive way, without influencing their opinion. I love listening to the young jurors arguing and very much enjoy their conversations, which I find quite refreshing, without even a hint of diplomacy or any kind of hidden agenda."

Which criteria exactly will our jurors be basing their appraisals on? We're proud to announce that there will be no mystery on that score: the last of the jury's deliberations for the final vote will take place at the Villa degli Autori on September 8th, livestreamed and also open to the public.

The end of the festival, however, is hardly the end of the 28 Times Cinema team's adventure; starting in October they will become ambassadors for the LUX Prize, taking over this role, as well, from those who preceded them in this experience that has united the participants in 28 Times Cinema for years now, promoting quality European films.

The following is the full list of this year's participants in 28 Times Cinema. To learn more, follow them on our social networks.