A huge film on a gorilla’s back: this is the logo for the week-long Levante International Film Festival, sponsored by the WWF and dedicated to independent films, that is taking place in Bari. Falling in the Year of the Gorilla, the seventh edition of the Festival is hosting two of the most renowned experts on gorilla world: Shelly Masi, currently studying gorillas in Central African Republic, and Chloé Cipolletta.
Being these hairy giants from the plains and mountains in Central Africa at serious risk of extinction, they may serve as a perfect metaphor for independent film makers that produce and distribute their films without support from major studios, work with low budgets and often their own money. Nowadays, given that visibility, acknowledgements and, even worse, the aesthetic value of any art project is the result of marketing strategies and commercial investments, independent films may be seen, just like gorillas, as a species in strong need of protection, fragile despite its indisputable strength.
Mimmo Mongelli, a film director from Bari, believes so strongly in all this, as to create in the blank scene of Bari a festival totally devoted to independent films that, starting from this year, goes international, casting a look at what happens abroad.
How was the Levante Film Festival born? It all started out from a simple idea. Back in 2003, with only ten films in hand, we decided to set up a summer show in the arena of Torre a Mare. The following year we moved to the cinema 'Carella' in Carbonara and, encouraged by the success with the audience, the show became a festival, with its own categories, panel and awards.
People often think independent films to be a sort of experimental cauldron. Independent films are not experimental, if you mean with that a process of deconstructing the narrative. Films produced outside a major studio have the same features as any other movie with a standard narrative.
This year is the turning point for the LIFF, now open to foreign language films. Indeed. The quality leap and the huge organizational efforts allow us to host independent movies from many countries (Israel, Australia, Canada, USA, Chile, Hungary, India, UK, Spain, Taiwan...), some of which has been a big success both with audience and critics. One only needs to think of Bollywood, well represented here with films and a seminar on the Indian film phenomenon, supervised by Rada Sesic.
Not only films but..
Also seminars and workshops for those who want to know more on independent films and techniques. Gorillas also play an important role in the Festival. Gorillas are the true stars. The only specimen of gorilla in Italy is in the Zoo Safari in Fasano, that was therefore chosen as a symbolic place: on Sunday 8th the Zoo director and I will introduce two illustrious guests, the ethnobiologist Shelly Masi and Roberto Mestroni.
Independent films use quite a different perspective from the major studios.
That is why our red carpet is certainly unique. It is made of different fabrics sewn together by women prisoners, representing diversity as a precious good to be preserved.
A huge film on a gorilla’s back: this is the logo for the week-long Levante International Film Festival, sponsored by the WWF and dedicated to independent films, that is taking place in Bari. Falling in the Year of the Gorilla, the seventh edition of the Festival is hosting two of the most renowned experts on gorilla world: Shelly Masi, currently studying gorillas in Central African Republic, and Chloé Cipolletta.