BERGAMO FILM MEETING
International Film Festival
36th edition, March 10 – 18, 2018
The first tidbit about the BFM36 program is the ample retrospective dedicated to Norwegian actress, director, and screenwriter Liv Ullmann: a brilliant opportunity for a journey across the 20th century authorial cinema - not just Bergman, but also Bolognini, Harvey and Buñuel, among others - that will lead us to the most recent works by Ullmann herself, behind the camera. As usual, the Competition - Exhibition and the Close-Up sections will provide an overview of contemporary cinema, showcasing the latest emerging trends and filmmakers in fiction and documentary, respectively.
9 days packed with screenings, with more than 160 films from all over the world, will make up the program of BFM36 which, thanks to the EU MEDIA sub-program of Creative Europe, will give ample space to the cinema of the old continent. Many international guests, meetings with authors, special events, previews and surprises, guided screenings for schools and younger viewers will enrich the festival's offer, along with a lively side offer of events and proposals ranging between visual arts, music, and comics in collaboration with a consolidated network of cultural institutions in the territory.
THE 2018 RETROSPECTIVE: LIV ULLMANN
The Norwegian actress was born on December 16, 1938, in Tokyo, where her father, an aviation engineer, had moved for work. Upon the outbreak of WWII, the family moved to Toronto first, and then to New York City. In 1945, when her father died, Liv returned to Norway along with her mother and sister. Gifted with sensitivity and intuition, as well as with a vivid imagination, she was enticed by theatre, painting, and poetry from a very young age. Thus, she decided to enroll at the Webber Douglas Academy in London, where she could also cultivate her other passion: cinema.
She made her film debut in 1959, with Ung Flukt (The Wayward Girl) and in 1965 she met Ingmar Bergman with whom she did ten films covering a time span ranging from 1966 to 2003: among them, monumental masterpieces such as Hour of the Wolf, Shame, The Passion of Anna, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a marriage, Face to face. The two were together for a long time and also had a daughter, Linn, who played some of his father's films while still a child and then became a famous writer, also translated in Italian.
After working with many other major filmmakers, including Jan Troell, Terence Young, Anthony Harvey, Sven Nykvist, Mario Monicelli and Mauro Bolognini, in 1992 Liv Ullmann decided to step behind the camera and directed five films, two of which - Private conversations (1996) and The Unfaithful (2000) - based on scripts by Ingmar Bergman. Her last film, Miss Julie (2014) featuring Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain, is the adaptation of the theatre drama of the same name written in 1888 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg.
Liv Ullmann has never stopped working in theatre, both as an actress and director. In 1980 she was the first woman who became UNICEF Ambassador. As an author, she published two very relevant books: Changing and Choices, in which she talks about moments of her life, people she met, family experiences, but also thoughts, reflections and situations that were a turning point in her life. An intimate, soft-spoken yet uncompromising portrait of one of the most important personalities in contemporary cinema.
Liv Ullmann will attend the Festival.
With the patronage of Royal Norwegian Embassy in Rome.
ENCOUNTERS: CINEMA AND CONTEMPORARY ART | JONAS MEKAS - PERSONALE
Jonas Mekas - Personale
Bergamo, March 10 - April 15 2018 | Palazzo della Ragione
Opening: Friday March 9 - 6:30 PM
Jonas Mekas meets the audience: Bergamo, Cinema San Marco | Piazzale della Repubblica, 2Jonas Mekas will present a selection of his works and will discuss his artistic research.
In collaboration with APalazzo Gallery (Brescia) and Francesco Urbano Ragazzi.
The other information on the 36th edition here: BFM 2018 Previews (.pdf)