Inception of 40th Giffoni Film Festival Gets Dream Start
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The 40th edition of the legendary “Giffoni Experience” started on 18 July and is now in full swing in the Italian village of Giffoni Valle Piana.
Samuel L. Jackson, the Avatar star Sam Worthington, the great Susan Sarandon and singer Jesse McCartney will be walking the red carpet among plenty of Italian celebrities as part of the biggest festival Giffoni has held so far.
40 Years of Film
The children’s and teenagers’ film festival known as the “Giffoni Experience” or simply “GFF” began its 40th edition on Sunday with crowds of people invading the Cittadella del Cinema – the festival’s vast square, or literally “cinema fortress”.
An orchestra from the city of Salerno was there to welcome them, along with a display of 40 cakes baked by 40 of the jurors’ mothers themselves, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this unique, international film festival.
The Judges
3,000 jurors from over 40 different countries around the world will watch, discuss, judge and vote for the movies in the competition as well as learn about the filmmaking process. Aged 3-18 years old, they are grouped by age and placed into four official competitive sections accordingly.
Unlike the previous years, even 3-5 year olds and over 18 year olds will be able to participate in the jury in their respective groups. The number of movies has also increased. This year’s programme is comprised of 63 movies and 99 short movies, most of which will be judged but some will remain outside of the competition.
Previous Guests
Over the past 40 years a whole host of Hollywood worthies have graced the festival with their presence. Eager to share their passion for the film industry with the younger generations, the likes of Elijah Wood, Jessica Biel, Joseph Fiennes and Ray Liotta have all attended.
This year the festival’s theme is love, which will be discussed at length and in depth by the jurors, actors, authors and movie directors. On that score, declaring his “love for movies,” Claudio Gubitosi, the founder and creative director of the film festival said: “We are all in love with the cinema world. Movies make us live another 1,000 lives.”
Gubitosi, whose idea has developed into this wonderful festival that promotes and develops cinema for young people, said: “GFF is one of the most loved events in the world. It is loved so much because it’s not only a red carpet or a standard film festival. It’s way more than that; it’s something that sticks with you forever.”
You can also follow the festival’s daily updates on Twitter and Facebook.
Written by Ylenia Lemos
I’ve never heard of this festival, but it looks cool! Such a good idea – maybe take my nieces there rather than Disneyland next year!