March 20, 2011
Cinema from the south of the world: rendezvous in Milan
The 21st African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival (FCAAAL) takes place in Milan from 21st to 27th March 2011, attracting fans of cinema from the south of the world. Organised by COE – Centro Orientamento Educativo (an international cooperation NGO), the festival is a key event in Italy, with a whole week of screenings, special events and discussions with the filmmakers. For this event, lettera27 and Kenzi Production continue their collaboration in a new phase of Luoghi Comuni, presenting ten video interviews with film directors, ‘The Directors’ voices /2, Cultures and perspectives from global cities'.

The Kenzi Production troupe is meeting the directors during the festival, encouraging a reflection upon real and symbolic places. The interviews are screened as part of the programme at the Festival Center.

The festival programme includes two award categories for African productions, Best African Feature Film and Best Short Fiction Films and Documentaries. A new category this year is And Everybody’s laughing… presenting the funniest and sharpest comedies from the three continents, selected by well-known comedians Gino and Michele, who created the TV comedy show Zelig.
The collaboration with Rotterdam’s International Film Festival is now in its second year, supporting the Raiding Africa programme, which offers international residencies to African filmmakers. As part of the project, seven African directors have been invited to make films in China.

lettera27 has always had a keen interest in African cinema and asked Vanessa Lanari, curator of the WikiAfrica Cinema project, to recommend key events of the festival. Films not to be missed are: Dès L’Aubre, by Jillali Ferhati, a story about realising one’s dream, between theatre and politics; Hawi, by Ibrahim El Batout, a mosaic portraying unrest in contemporary Egypt; Musuée, by Daoud Oulad Syad, on shooting a film in an isolated village in Morocco; Place (Essaha), by Dahmane Ouzid, the first Algerian musical comedy; Microphone, by Ahmad Abdalla, a window on the new generation of artists and musicians in Alessandria; Quelques jours de répit, by Amor Hakkar, the story of two young gay men fleeing Iran; State of Violence, by Khalo Matabane, where memories of a violent past trouble the present; Un homme qui crie, by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, centred around conflicts between fathers and son in the civil war in Chad .

One of the key special events devoted to Africa, a tribute to William Kentridge, internationally renowned South African contemporary artist, is the preview of his video installation What Will Come (Has Already Come). This work, produced in collaboration with Galleria Lia Rumma Milan/Naples, is part of the exhibition Made in Africa currently at the Triennale in Milan.