There I was, rifling through my tiny little notebook, looking for a clue as to what happened on day five of the festa. The seven day event filled party had addled my brain. Movie? 9:30 – what the hell did that mean. I pulled up the Festa poster to read the list. Cripes! There are 8 – I counted – 8 days of late night events, drinks, etc. No wonder I can’t remember. Whack – it hit me – what did movie mean – just the biggest event to happen here – Comicron. A two day film festival that drew entries from all over the world. Note it was a TWO day even – so I only have to write one blog. The web site is slick – http://www.comicronfilmfestival.it – and states:
Il Comicron international short film festival nasce da un’idea di Ugo Gregoretti di creare un’inedita manifestazione dedicata esclusivamente ai cortometraggi comici. Un’esperienza in grado di scoprire nuovi talenti…
The Comicron international short film festival grew from the idea of Ugo Gregoretti to create an unprecedented event dedicated exclusively to comedy shorts. An experience that allows us to discover new talent …
This festival and the drawing power of Artistic Director Maestro Ugo Gregoretti, attracted a huge well heeled audience – including the red carpet crowd. They made the mistake of setting up the red carpet during the day – so that any old riff-raff could strut their stuff – like me!
Slick, slick, slick. The roadies and volunteers were all dressed in red t-shirts, had communication equipment and moved about with purpose. High end ear buds could be seen on crew chiefs scurrying about with clip boards. Banners from the highway led you to the piazza. The banners were a nice touch and perked up the streets.
We got there in plenty of time, sat on the red chairs and made sure I wasn’t sitting behind a tall person. The show was slated to start at 9:30 and being run by professionals so we knew curtain would be at 9:30. Sitting there, I discovered that being on time was actually late. The cutting of the ribbon and parade down the faux red carpet had started earlier – rats!!!
Having the attention span of a gnat, I promptly started looking around – whoa flowers on the down stage edge. That’s a nice touch and the screen is huge. It was obvious that the A-team had done the setup, the stage was nicely dressed and lit. Suddenly, I noticed that everyone was pointing to the front – must be someone famous – it is! Sarah Maestri was here – she is an incredibly famous Italian film, television and radio star!!!! She also just recently released a novel that has become a best seller. Of course, I was here on time and didn’t get to meet her – ugggg.
Scared you – thought you wouldn’t see her face! Don’t worry in the next photo we have Giorgio Arlorio, Sarah Maestri, Ugo Gregoretti and our own Sindaco Rinaldi. H’mmmm I bet you are wondering who Giorgio Arlorio is – just an incredibly successful screenwriter with tons of film and television credits.
On the big screen, the asino – donkey of yesterday’s Pontelandolfo came to life and licked the screen revealing Comicron! The wait for the show to start was broken by counting how many times they would repeat the mule action accompanied by some killer swing music. Then the graphic changed. The music changed. The lights changed. I raced home and changed.
The producers of Comicron are in the film business so the film work and the digitized graphics was top shelf. Media held our attention and signaled what was going on. You didn’t need a program because the art infused graphics let you know who was on stage and why. The hosts, Laura Abbaleo and Rino Genovese were real pros and a welcome change from the creepy guy of the night before. Unfortunately, they had to read an incredibly long list of sponsors but moved it rapidly. Now those names should have been on an opening graphic and we could have read it while we were waiting. I got just a tad antsy. The duo really impressed me when I realized they were verbally synching with images that were flashing behind them!
They opened the show with a home town favorite, Ri Ualanegli Juonior, performing Gioca Dei Bambini. Sadly, many in the audience left their seats after the little dancers performed.
DEZPHOTO
Don’t you leave your seat – check out the dance. I shot their concert in June and you’ll see Gioca Dei Bambini, the traditional dance that everyone loves. The opening is kids playing games – the dancing is a few seconds past that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KENVFeHVNg
The folks that scurried out of their seats didn’t go far because the kids also performed at the very end of the night. I was gone by then and really couldn’t grasp why you would have little kids stay up until 12:30 to be the finale of a film festival. Oh, I get it – audience numbers. I don’t think the programmers needed to do that. The audience – like me – was there to see this international slate of short comic films. The red carpet notables were another big draw.
Speaking of unnecessary fill – the night also featured additional live entertainment of of the well known professional variety. Next up, after the spirited young dancers was comic Antonio Riscetti. I appreciated his political humor and the fact that he spoke slowly and beautifully enough for me to understand.
Finally, we got to see the first set of three films. Then a singer came on who had starred in Notre Dame de Paris – It was already 11:00 ish we didn’t need another famous person we wanted to see the next set of films. I was a bad girl and got up and walked around to get a drink.
Let’s talk about the movies. The professionalism of cinema, writing and editing varied. All were well done but some reminded me of silly student films – you know slap stick and stupid sophomoric ideas. I mean “Mafia University” – come on. I loved the well scripted and thought out Fulgenzia – Until A Name You Do Part.
The next night an additional six films were shown – sans a lot of the extra entertainment.
DEZPHOTO
They flowed on to the grand denouement – the announcement of the winners!
The winning young director was Sydney Sibilia. Lets keep our eyes and ears open for him! To see all the winners visit the Comicron Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/comironfilmfestival/
Happy film watching. I’m going to bed.
Nonna's Mulberry Tree 