Films in Competition: Plots, Emotions, and Details

SBIFest 2024

Best Feature Documentary
(5 documentary feature films)


1)"Una Risata ci Salverà" - A laugh will save us

Italy

1H our

Director Michelangelo Gregori

Michelangelo Gregori, 43 years old, is an Italian filmmaker, writer, and actor. He graduated from the Istituto Superiore del Cinema e della Televisione in Rome. He has worked on various projects in the fields of audiovisual media, theater, and social media. He has also been involved in video design for opera. Over the years, he has made several short films, achieving both national and international recognition. As a writer or screenwriter, he has always navigated between cinematography and theatricality.

Plot:

"A Laugh Will Save Us: We will explore the intersection between humor, satire, and religion, analyzing how they mutually influence each other. Through interviews with comedians, artists, and scholars, we will discover irreverent jokes, clever parodies, and bold caricatures that challenge religious dogmas. We will reflect on the critical role of humor in faith and spirituality, examining its ability to defy social conventions and initiate dialogue on sacred topics. It will be a journey that will make us laugh and reflect, exploring the power of comedy within the context of religions and opening new perspectives on cultural dynamics. 'A Laugh Will Save Us' will invite us to challenge power through liberating laughter."

2)The Strong Man of Bureng

Italy

1hour 15 min utes

Director Mauro Bucci

Mauro Bucci's filmmaking method is based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, during which he establishes a bond with the people being filmed to better understand their everyday lives and points of view. For his films, he worked as a one-man crew shooting video, recording sound, and editing footage to maintain complete authorial control over the work. He applied this method in "Hotel Splendid", a documentary that portrays the lives of an African community hosted in an Italian hotel that has been converted into an emergency refugee camp. In his latest film, "The Strong Man of Bureng", using a similar approach, he explores the theme of circular migration, closely following the protagonist across different continents and life experiences.

Plot:

Former UN soldier Essa has fled the Gambia for Finland, where he has successfully set up a business that provides for his family. Back in his hometown Bureng, he is celebrated as a hero. During a visit home, world events catch up with him: The coronavirus outbreak jeopardises Essa’s return to Europe and his application to renew his residence permit, plunging him into one of the most serious crises of his life."The Strong Man of Bureng" is both a contemporary odyssey and an intimate story of the deep motivations that have brought a person to leave his own country in an effort to satisfy universal needs.

3) The breath of Sarajevo

Italy

1hour 31 minutes

Directors Fabiana Antonioli, Andrea D'Arrigo

Fabiana Antonioli: editor, director and producer.

Plot:The documentary "The Breath of Sarajevo" tells the extraordinary story of Sanja and Zoran, who in 1993 fled and survived the siege of Sarajevo, the longest war siege in the history of the 20th century, to find refuge in Italy. After 30 years they return to Sarajevo, together with the woman who welcomed them in her home, in a small mountain village.

4) Out of sight, by the forest

Poland

1hour 15 minutes

Director Nadina Dobrowolska

Nadina Dobrowolska, born in 1990 in Głuchołazy, is a graduate of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katowice, majoring in Organisation of Film and Television Production. Dobrowolska is a long-time pro-animal activist. In her debut documentary film "Out of sight, by the forest", she asks the audience what place animals have in contemporary society. For her first feature-length film, she drew inspiration from the documentary output of Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders.

Plot:

"Out of sight, by the forest" , directed by Nadina Dobrowolska, is a poignant documentary exposing the brutal reality of Polish fur farms. With extraordinary sensitivity, the filmmakers present the story of three activists - Aleks, Angelika and Bogna - who for years have tirelessly documented the suffering of animals raised for fur. Their heroic struggle against the powerful fur lobby and heartless bureaucracy creates a narrative full of tension and moral challenges.

5) The alchemist's dance

Spain

01hour 24 minutes

Director Arantxa Vela

Arantxa Vela Buendía (Madrid, 1962) is a documentary filmmaker, and has been a full-time employee of RTVE (National Spanish Television Corporation) since 1984.

She has specialised in shows and series on the performing arts since 2000; first as a documentalist and then, from 2010 to 2013, as the producer and senior editor of “Mi reino por un caballo” (My Kingdom for a Horse) - RTVE‘s weekly magazine programme on events and headline news from the theatre world.

Plot:

How does María Pagés’ thinking work? Where do her movements come from? What inspires her dancing? Starting with the staging of one of her latest shows, ‘De Scheherezade’, at the Roman Theatre of Mérida, we delve into her creative process, a process that she has shared for more than ten years with the poet, writer and dramaturg El Arbi El Harti. Both helps us to deconstruct scenes and draw a line that links with their previous works. By means of a fine sense of humour, the couple reveals to us the happiness and difficulties of living and working together. María Pagés shows herself to us as a woman whose life has its center on stage, in her way of understanding flamenco. Her dance seems to be something close to meditation and her creative process, a kind of trance.



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