Countdown to the Saturnia Film Festival , a travelling festival organised by the cultural association Aradia Productions under the presidency of Antonella Santarelli and the artistic direction of director Alessandro Grande .
The seventh edition will be held from July 31 to August 4, 2024. The novelty this year is the Saturnia Pitch , a project aimed at directors and screenwriters. A point of mediation between author and producer and a moment of professional updating and growth.
We talked about the novelty of Saturnia Pitch and its realization together with Alessandro Grande . Film director and screenwriter, winner of the David di Donatello 2018, professor of Directing at the Academy of Fine Arts of Frosinone and artistic director of the Saturnia Film Festival.
The Saturnia Pitch’s novelty: Alessandro Grande
How would you describe the Saturnia Pitch and how did the idea for the project come about? “It is a collateral event included within the Saturnia Film Festival. It includes a presentation of projects to film producers, it is a ‘two-day’ full immersion for the part related to the development of a work (everything that comes before the making of a film, ed.). The idea was born because both Antonella Santarelli (president of the Festival, ed.) and I have already had similar experiences in the past and having reached this seventh edition we have decided to bring this great innovation to the festival which over the years has become a festival for first and second works, short films and documentaries. To grow and dedicate ourselves even more to cinema from A to Z we have given this space to 30 authors from all over Italy”
How are the two days of work organized? And who are the professionals of the masterclasses? “Every morning there will be masterclasses held by professionals in the sector for all 30 selected authors. We will have with us experts such as the producer Alessandro Amato (co-founder and sole director of dispàrte, ed.) who will give advice to the kids on how to present their projects both at the Saturnia Pitch and in the future. Angelica Cantisani of Torino Film Lab will be there, who will offer a detail and an overview of all the development possibilities for the kids and for their projects to do from that moment on. There will be afternoon meetings for the kids who will not be pitching, always with professionals in the sector such as Manuela Rima of Rai Cinema and Marco Compiani of Vivo Film who will respectively hold masterclasses on both the short and the production and role of the director within independent productions. Together with the masterclasses there will be the crucial moment for the authors who will have to tell their idea of the film to the six producers we have selected this year and who are part of the six companies that have distinguished themselves most over the years, which are Wildside, Dispàrte, Gaumont, Indaco, Kavac Film and Mompracen”
What were the selection criteria for the film subjects selected at the Saturnia Pitch? “It was a very difficult selection, we received over 240 projects. A demonstration of how alive and explosive our film market is and above all how many authors there are and how many ideas we have in our country. It was not easy to choose the 30 projects that we chose, initially there were supposed to be 20 but we did not limit ourselves and we wanted to offer another 10 the opportunity to come and tell us their idea of a film. There are different genres, different themes. The selection criteria were those that occur in these cases: the quality of a project is evaluated and regardless of personal taste we must think of offering a varied package to the producers so that they can in some way undertake a collaboration together. Our goal is to create a network between authors and producers with the hope that these can actually be the films made in the future and that will start from the Saturnia Film Festival”
The poster of the 7th Saturnia Film Festival is dedicated to Marcello Mastroianni
What are the main goals you would like to achieve through this event? “The main goal is to offer both authors and producers an interesting training experience. On the one hand, authors will be able to get feedback and interact appropriately with producers, on the other hand, producers can find out how authors are doing in Italy with these 30 projects. It is a form of scouting that the Saturnia Film Festival does on their behalf. It is joining forces by acting as intermediaries, and this is already a great goal for this year. Our dream is to see a film made, a story that has been presented at the Saturnia Film Festival by these producers who were present during these two days. This is our goal, a possibility for future collaborations”
And how do you think the Saturnia Pitch can positively influence the Italian and international film industry? “We offer the six producers different themes and different genres, we hope they can carry forward some projects”.