Festival

Nella Banfi

Producer, screenwriter (Italy/France)

Nella Banfi has long-standing experience in the film industry. In France, she worked as a journalist, screenwriter, and author for film and television and later began her career as a producer. In this capacity, she has worked on many successful Franco-Italian productions with filmmakers such as Cyril Collard, Marco Bellocchio, Carlo Mazzacurati, Mimmo Calopresti, Benoît Jacquot, and, above all, Nanni Moretti, for whom she produced Palombella rossa (1989) and Caro diario (1993).

Fabio Ferzetti

Film Critic (Italy)

Born in Rome but educated in late-1970s Paris, he debuted in 1983 with an exhibit about cinematographers, “La bottega della luce.” A critic and essay writer, he worked at “Il Messaggero” for over thirty years and today writes for “L’Espresso.” Besides curating various sections of the Venice Film Festival (Finestra sulle immagini, Giornate degli autori), he has worked in radio and TV, making programs such as La valigia dell’attore for Stream Tv (2000-2001). In 2007, he launched the program in defense of film memory “100 + 1. Cento film e un paese; l’Italia.” He edited the home video critical edition of works by Rohmer and Martone. In 2012, he and Gianfranco Giagni shot a documentary about Verdone, Carlo!, which opened the Rome Film Fest. He recently edited a book about Pierfrancesco Favino, Collezionista di anime.

Mike Kaplan

Producer (USA)

He is a producer, director, actor, poster designer, marketing strategist, and unexpected songwriter. He has been a close associate to many visionary filmmakers including Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman (for Short Cuts, 1993), Hal Ashby, Lindsay Anderson (for The Whale of August, 1987), Mike Hodges, Alan Rudolph, Abraham Polonsky, and Paul Thomas Anderson. He directed three documentaries: Ann Sothern: The Sharpest Girl in Town (1999), Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (1996), and Never Apologize (2007), a Malcolm McDowell’s one man show which was selected in Cannes. A collector of vintage movie posters, he has curated exhibits from his collection. After 54 years, A Garden of Personal Mirrors, the single he wrote at Kubrick’s request for 2001: A Space Odissey, was released and has sold out in its limited edition vinyl release.

Fernando E. Juan Lima

President of Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata (Argentina)

He is the President of the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival. He is a film critic in written media (El Amante/Cine, Otros Cines, Diario BAE, Caimán, Escribiendo Cine), and he has also served as the vice president of INCAA (International Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts of Argentina), in addition to serving as a jury member at international film festivals around the world. In 2010, he created the radio program La Autopista del Sur, which he has hosted since, and which can be listened to internationally via www.radioam750.com.ar. In addition to his work in cinema, Juan Lima is an attorney, specializing in public law, and holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. He is a judge in administrative litigation as well as an undergraduate and graduate professor.

Martina Parenti

Director (Italy)

Together with Massimo D’Anolfi wrote and directed I promessi sposi (2006): selected at the Locarno Film Festival, the film was awarded at the Festival dei Popoli and at the Filmmaker Film Festival in Milan. In 2009 Grandi speranze was also presented at Locarno. Il Castello (2011), selected in many international festivals (Cinema du reel, Nyon; Hot Docs, Toronto; EIDF, Seoul; RIDM, Montreal) was awarded Torino Film Festival with the Premio Speciale della Giuria Italiana.doc and Premio Avanti. In 2013 Materia oscura was presented at the Berlinale Forum and begins a long journey trought festival. In 2015 L’infinita fabbrica del Duomowas premiered at Locarno. In 2016 Spira Mirabilis was premiered in competition during Mostra di Venezia, as the following Blu (2018), co-produced with Rai Cinema. Guerra e pace (2020) as well co-produced with Rai Cinema and Lomotion, has been premiered during Mostra di Venezia 77 and at IDFA International Competition 2020.

Massimo D’Anolfi

Director (Italy)

Together with Martina Parenti wrote and directed I promessi sposi (2006): selected at the Locarno Film Festival, the film was awarded at the Festival dei Popoli and at the Filmmaker Film Festival in Milan. In 2009 Grandi speranze was also presented at Locarno. Il Castello (2011), selected in many international festivals (Cinema du reel, Nyon; Hot Docs, Toronto; EIDF, Seoul; RIDM, Montreal) was awarded Torino Film Festival with the Premio Speciale della Giuria Italiana.doc and Premio Avanti. In 2013 Materia oscura was presented at the Berlinale Forum and begins a long journey trought festival. In 2015 L’infinita fabbrica del Duomowas premiered at Locarno. In 2016 Spira Mirabilis was premiered in competition during Mostra di Venezia, as the following Blu (2018), co-produced with Rai Cinema. Guerra e pace (2020) as well co-produced with Rai Cinema and Lomotion, has been premiered during Mostra di Venezia 77 and at IDFA International Competition 2020.

Uljana Kim

Producer (Lithuania)

She graduated from the Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (Vgik) in 1993 and is a film critic by education. She founded Studio Uljana Kim in 1997 and has produced since then more than thirty feature and documentary films. Most of them were premiered at the most important international film festivals and others were successful at the domestic box office. Her company’s goal is to produce and co-produce high quality art-house films intended for a worldwide audience. The list of its most important features includes Valdas Navasaitis’ film Kiemas (1999), selected in Cannes, and Perpetuum Mobile (2008); Kristijonas Vildžiūnas’ The Lease, selected in Venice; Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr Landsbergis (2021), IDFA Best Film Award, and all the films by beloved director Mantas Kvedaravičius, Mariupolis (2016), Parthenon (2019), Prologos (2021) and Mariupolis 2, the latter selected at Cannes and winner of the Special Documentary Jury Prize.

Miguel Valverde

Producer (Portugal)

He was born in 1971, in Portimão, Portugal. He has a degree in Law and a specialization in Copyright Law by the University of Lisbon. He attended also courses and workshops of Film, Script, Dramaturgy of Image and Editing. In 2003 he created, along with Nuno Sena and Rui Pereira, IndieLisboa – International Film Festival, being currently still one of the directors. He’s also one of the directors of Portugal Film – Portuguese Film Agency which he created. He served as jury of several film festivals, namely in the CPH Doxs, Uppsala, Hamburg, Winterthur, Valdivia, Janela Internacional de Cinema Recife, among many other. In 2011 he produced two experimental short films, Engine and Um Homem à Varanda, that were shown in several festivals and art institutions. In 2015 he produced the collective feature Aqui, em Lisboa, which shown among others at Torino Film Festival. Currently he’s an invited film teacher at the main films schools in Lisbon, ESTC and NOVA.

Chiara Bellosi

Director (Italy)

Chiara Bellosi (Italy 1973) graduated in theatre from the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in Milan. She directed an episode of the choral film Checosamanca, produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina for Eskimosa and Rai Cinema. She participated in the master’s degree course “Filmmaker – Il documentario come sguardo”, organized by IED-Venice and shot a number of documentaries.  Palazzo di giustizia, her first fiction feature film, was presented in the Generation 14+ section of the 2020 Berlinale. Calcinculo, her second fiction feature film, was presented in the Panorama.

Alessandro Rossetto

Director (Italy)

Alessandro Rossetto (Padua, 1963) is a film writer, director, cinematographer, and cameraman. He has made documentaries that are considered some of the most significant of his generation (including Bibione Bye Bye One, 1999, and Chiusura, 2001, presented in competition at the Torino Film Festival; and The Colony (Vacanze di guerra), 2012). He debuted in fiction films in 2013 with Piccola patria (Small Homeland), presented at the Venice Film Festival, as was his next movie, Effetto Domino (2019). In 2021, he made The Italian Banker. This is how his work has been described by critics: “His cinematographic eye is priceless, full of curiosity and sensitivity. In his movies, with a mise-en-scène of rigor and poetry, he lets us encounter touching situations and people, showing us their intimate imagination, their view of the world, and their extraordinary, everyday life.”

Dario Zonta

Producer, Film Critic (Italy)

Producer and film critic, since 2007 he has been leading Hollywood Party (Radio 3 Rai). He is also professor at Naba, in Milan, and Cisa, in Locarno. Producer for various documentary films since 2008, he is also the author of the book L’invenzione del reale.

Erika Favaro

Journalist (Italy)

Born in the province of Venice in 1988, presently works for Rai Radio 3, as part of the editorial staff for Hollywood Party and the web. Lives in Rome, where she moved after receiving a degree in Modern Literature, living in England for a while (where she taught Italian and collaborated with a radio station in Cambridge), and receiving a Master’s degree in journalistic critique from the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts. She writes about film, music, and theatre (for years she was one of the guests on Rodolfo Di Giammarco’s blog at repubblica.it).

Ilaria Feole

Film Critic (Italy)

Born in Milan in 1983, she writes about film and series for the weekly “Film Tv” and is a member of the selection committee of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. She has written the monographs Wes Anderson – Genitori, figli e altri animali (2014) and C’era una volta in America di Sergio Leone (2018), and is one of the authors of Tutto Fellini (2019) and Architetture del desiderio – Il cinema di Céline Sciamma (2021).

Luisa Porrino

Director (Italy)

A degree in photography from London’s Southgate Greater College, she has worked as an assistant director for movies, TV series, and commercials (Boris – La serie, Telecom) and as a line producer and assistant producer for international co-productions (Die, 2010, Transgression, 2014). In 2010, she founded the production company Fargo Entertainment, with which she and Fox International Channel produced two experimental web series, pilot projects, and a few shorts. In 2013, she founded the Associazione culturale Fargoff, with which she has organized events with Roma Capitale. In 2017, she directed her first movie, Porto il velo, adoro i Queen, and produced the documentary Codici d’amore by Savero Paoletta and Harvinder Singh.

Lamberto Bava

Director, Producer (Italy)

Born into the tradition (his grandfather Eugenio was a cinematographer, his father Mario one of Italy’s best-known and most influential directors), he began working with his father between the 1960s and 70s, co-directing the televised La Venere d’Ille in 1979. In 1980, he debuted as a director with Macabro and began collaborating with Dario Argento on movies such as Tenebre (1982), Dèmoni (1985), and Dèmoni 2… L’incubo ritorna (1986). This was the start of a successful career as the director of horror movies and thrillers, for the silver screen and for TV. In 1989, he shot the remake La maschera del demonio, a tribute to the same-titled movie by his father, and he later directed and produced the fantasy series Fantaghirò. During the 2000s, besides his activities as a director, producer, and curator, he debuted as an author with the horror novel Solo per noi vampiri, which was followed in 2020 by Il terzo giorno.

Silvia Pezzopane

Film Critic (Italia)

Born in Rome in 1988, she graduated in performance arts and sciences from the Sapienza University in Rome and later from the DAMS at Roma Tre. She received a Master’s degree from the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts in journalistic critique with a graduating project about the program Fuori orario and the work of Enrico Ghezzi. She has written for the blog of “The Huffington Post” and the European magazine “Cafébabel” and collaborates with the ANSA guidebook Siamo serie, edited by Mario Sesti. In 2020, she was a co-founder and editor of “FRAMED Magazine,” an online editorial project dedicated to narration, from movies to series, music, and literature.

Carlos Vermut

Director (Spain)

He wrote and directed his first feature film Diamond Flash in 2011, which he produced himself and distributed independently. The film won the Rizoma Award and the Best Film Award at Abycine, and received great critical acclaim automatically becaming a cult movie. In 2014 he wrote and directed his second feature film Magical Girl, winning the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film was presented in the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for 7 Goya Awards. With his third feature film, Quién te cantará (2018), presented both at the Toronto and San Sebastian, he built one of the most acclaimed films of Spanish cinema of theyear. Before dedicating himself to cinema, he worked as a comic book artist, publishing different comics (Psico Soda, Cosmic Dragon) while producing and directing the short films Maquetas (2009) and Don Pepe Popi (2012). He also wrote the screenplay of Paco Plaza’s La abuela (2021), film selected at the TFF.