The Experimental Centre for Cinema – Lombardy

hosts the first MEDIA Salles “Cinemamondo” Jury


Milan, 29 June 2007
– on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 June, the Experimental Centre for Cinema – Lombardy will act as host to the jury for the first edition of the “Cinemamondo” award.

The “Cinemamondo” project has been launched by MEDIA Salles to analyze, for the first time in Italy, the viewing habits of the immigrant population. The initiative also includes educational activities for young people. The first phase, which has just concluded in Milan, with the collaboration of CFP Vigorelli, involved the Liceo Marconi, the Istituto Schiapparelli and the CFP Paullo. Objective: to make young people more aware of the cinema as a means of getting to know and compare different cultures. Hence the title of the workshops: “Faraway, so close! The world gets together in the cinema”.
It is this experience that gives rise to the “Cinemamondo” award, which will be assigned to films that manage to convey the values of dialogue between cultures and promote knowledge and reflection on multi-ethnic society. The first appointment with the “Cinemamondo” award will be at the coming Filmvideo Montecatini – International Festival of Short Films, whose 58th edition is inaugurating a new section entitled “Lo sguardo d’Europa” (Through Europe’s Eyes), devoted this year to “Migrants”.
The jury that will assign the “Cinemamondo” award at Montecatini will be formed by young people, both Italians and foreigners, from 3 upper secondary schools in Milan, who took part in the workshops. They will now devote two days – as guests of the Milan CSC, a centre for advanced training in television fiction, company documentaries and commercials – to viewing short films on the theme of “Migrants”.
The Experimental Centre for Cinema promotes excellence in the field of training for the cinema industry, in all forms, and has always taken an international perspective with a view to fostering the exchange of ideas and experiences, also collaborating internationally with other schools active in the cinema sector.
The collaboration between MEDIA Salles and Cinemamondo thus represents the opportunity for those involved in the training and production of audiovisuals, professional players in the world of the cinema and the new consumers, who will be moving on an increasingly international scenario, to come together.

The Foundation of the Experimental Centre for Cinema is the most important Italian institution to provide teaching, research and experimentation in the field of cinema, taken in its widest sense: films, documentaries, fiction and animation. Amongst its goals are the development of the art and techniques of cinematography and audiovisuals to a level of excellence, through two distinct sectors of the Foundation: the National Film School and the National Film Library. The National Film School, founded in 1935, has its headquarters in Rome, with a three-year course in acting, scriptwriting, set design, furnishing and costumes, photography, sound engineering, production and editing. It has two other branches: the Piedmont Centre, based in Chieri near Turin, founded in 2001, with the Advanced School of Specialization in the Arts and Crafts of Animation (three-year courses) and the Lombardy Centre, based in Milan, founded in December 2004 thanks to an agreement between the Foundation of the Experimental Centre for Cinema and the Lombard Regional Authorities, the European School of Fiction, the European School of the Cinema Industry and the Academy of Digital Craft, with the objective of cultivating new talents in television fiction, commercials and Cinema for industry.

FilmVideo 2007 is organized by the Montecatini Film Association (whose President is Giorgio Sabbatini), with the support of the Pistoia Province and its Culture Town Council, of the Tuscany Film Commission, of Montecatini Terme and its Entertainment Town Council, of Montecatini Terme’s Tourist Board (APT), of the Italian Republic’s High Patronage and with the Carlo Collodi National Foundation’s sponsorship.

The other sector of excellence belonging to the Foundation of the Experimental Centre for Cinema is the National Film Library, set up in 1949, which conserves Italy’s film heritage and deals with the conservation, expansion and restoration of the works, using the works to the best effect and promoting this cultural heritage both in Italy and abroad. In over half a century of work, the Film Library has built up a collection of over 75 000 copies, ranging from silent films to sound, from fiction to documentaries, including the masterpieces of Italian film-making.
At Ivrea, in the ex-Olivetti buildings, the National Library of Films for Industry has been set up, where there is a collection of the most important Italian documentaries for industry.
The Governing Board of the Foundation of the Experimental Centre for Cinema is headed by Professor Francesco Alberoni and the Board members are Dante Ferretti, Giancarlo Giannini, Massimiliano Perri, Carlo Rambaldi e Giorgio Tino .


MEDIA Salles, a project operating since 1991 within the framework of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, with the support of the Italian Government, fosters theatrical distribution of European audiovisual products, both by high profile campaigns involving Europe's cinema exhibitors and by initiatives to raise the visibility of European productions with industry players and potential audiences, creating specialized information channels on a global scale. Thus the current initiatives from MEDIA Salles dovetail in a program with a triple focus – training, promotion and information – and maximum combined effect.


MEDIA Salles
c/o Agis Lombarda
Piazza Luigi di Savoia, 24
20124 Milano
Tel. 02 6739781
Direct line: 02 67397823
Fax: 02 6690410
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Web: www.mediasalles.it

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