We at FESCAAAL have also stopped, while continuing to work from afar on the next edition.

Many are recommending films for this period of forced stop. An unprecedented time, in the hectic lives we’re used to living, that gives us the chance to (finally!) catch up on films we’ve missed or to see films we never would have been able to see. After all, you can always find the bright side!

If many people have recommended films scattered around the web, only us we can recommend the best from Africa, Asia and Latin America: films that have already been screened at our Festival but also unmissable gems that, in addition to keeping us company, will take us on beautiful, faraway journeys.

Thanks to the attention of many cinema, video on demand and streaming platforms, you also have the chance to take advantage of free services or special offers.

We have therefore scoured the net to offer you a film program, to dilute or to consume all in one breath in these days of “quarantine”: you choose! 😉

A night on TV: Friday, March 20 on RAI3

Great appointment on TV for the most night owls with two of the most interesting contemporary Asian authors. Just tune in to Rai3 at 1.15 and 3.15 (yes, in the morning!) for two masterpieces from Thailand and Taiwan. Thanks for the recommendation to FilmTV!

Uncle Boonmee who remembers his previous lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Palme d’Or at Cannes 2010

A visionary film about life and death, inspired by a book written by a Buddhist monk, in which Uncle Boonmee, having come to the end of his existence, encounters the reincarnations of his loved ones in a forest, a borderland in the north of Thailand.

Stray Dogs by Tsai Ming-liang, Grand Jury Prize at Venezia70

A lucid and desperate tale of lives on the margins in the city of Taipei. In this voracious megalopolis, the last ones struggle to survive, like – precisely – stray dogs.

iorestoacasa with MYMOVIES and the FEFF

Also our friends of the Far East Film Festival – FEFF in Udine support the #iorestoacasa campaign promoted by MYmovies by offering free streaming of a selection of 21 art films, from March 20 to April 5: here is the complete schedule.

It begins Friday, March 20 at 21.30 with the world premiere (already sold out!) of Burning by Lee Chang-dong, presented in the Flash section last year at the 29th FESCAAAL.
Among the other films on the program, from China, Japan and South Korea we point out: the works of the Japanese master Yasujirô Ozu (there are six on the calendar: spoiled for choice!); The Korean Prisoner (2016) by Kim Ki-Duk, Korean director who has already won in Venice, Cannes and Berlin; The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2015) by Tsui Hark, prolific Chinese director, producer and screenwriter.

Instructions for use
To watch free online collective viewings of the streaming films promoted by MYmovies, simply connect to www.mymovies.it/iorestoacasa, select the films you want to see and reserve a seat in the web room. The platform simulates the vision of a film at the cinema, the assigned seats are limited and numbered and streaming starts at a fixed time.

RAIPLAY

What do we recommend?
The catalog offers us two big names, loyal guests and friends of our Festival: Abderrahmane Sissako and Andrea Segre.

Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako, film nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015
The work of the master of African cinema is a subtle, poetic and evocative drama that delves into the theme of Islamic fundamentalism. Among the leads is an intense Fatoumata Diawara.

La prima neve by Andrea Segre, the second work by the director nominated for a Silver Ribbon in 2013, which continues to tell us the nuances of migration in Italy.
Dani, escaped from the ferocious Libya, wants to reach Paris, but finds himself in Trentino. Right here, waiting for the first snow, he will learn to love again.

CHILI

The site for renting or buying lots of films gives us the chance to dream with some great classics from Africa and Asia and recent films to review and already presented at our Festival.

For a jump into the classics, the platform offers the works of two undisputed masters from Senegal and India.

The Apu trilogy by Satyajit Ray, Bengali director, screenwriter and composer, made between 1955 and 1959.
Three films, in full neorealist style, based on the novels of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay: The Lament on the Path, Aparajito and The World of Apu.

Moolaadé by the father of African cinema, Sembène Ousmane, delves into the delicate subject of female genital mutilation and tells of a traditional Senegal and Africa bravely confronting the force of change.

Moolaadé can also be found in our COEmedia Distribuzione Cinema catalog.

Also available are recent titles by two female directors who have had much success at the international level.

As soon as I open my eyes first work of Leyla Bouzid, daughter of the master Nouri Bouzid, which we presented at FESCAAAL 2016
The film is a true coming-of-age story, a rebellious cry, which intersects with the events of post-revolution Tunisian current affairs.

Capernaum by Lebanese actress and director Nadine Labaki. A long flashback that immerses the viewer in the very difficult life full of anger of Zaim, a twelve-year-old from Beirut who decided to rebel against his sad fate and his family. A plunge into a cruel reality of denied rights and violence that nevertheless manages to let hope sprout.

Instructions for use
Chili allows you to rent or buy content online without a subscription: just create a free account, browse the catalog, put the desired film in the cart and proceed to payment. In case of rental, you have 28 days to see the film, and 48 hours from the first play to complete the vision or review it.

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Movies and TV series, classics and absolute novelties, on the Amazon platform that from our areas gives us the opportunity to review two films that have so excited us.

What do we recommend?
Two recent films presented at our Festival, two works in which the young protagonists make us see the world from a different perspective.

Kamila Andini’s The Seen and Unseen, seen at FESCAAAL 2018, is a true immersion in Indonesian culture and the imagination of little Tantri, who takes refuge in a dream world to process the suffering caused by the illness of her twin, Tantra.

Kamila always returns with pleasure to the Festival where, in 2012, she had presented The Mirror Never Lies, now in our Distribution Catalogue.

Wallay by Berni Goldblat, presented at FESCAAAL 2017 and winner of the Polis award for distribution (film in our COEmedia Cinema Distribution Catalog). The film tells the story of Ady franco-burkinabé, who at the age of 13, will have to “get lost” in Africa in order to find herself.

Instructions for use
Amazon Prime Video is one of the services included in the annual Amazon Prime subscription. It costs €36 a year but those who have never subscribed can take advantage of a 30-day free trial.

NETFLIX

The giant that has revolutionized the way we watch and make movies offers so many possibilities of movies from our continents, yesterday and today.

What do we recommend?
From Africa, two female-directed films that tell us about cultures that meet and clash; from Latin America, the most recent award-winning films; and from Asia, three real animation gems directly from Studio Ghibli.

Africa

Atlantique by Mati Diop. This is the directorial debut of the young director of Senegalese origin, who grew up on bread and film, the granddaughter of the great Djibril Diop Mambéty.
The film uses many languages, documentary, romance, horror, supernatural and noir to talk about migration and identity.

Divines by Houda Benyamina, awarded Best First Feature at Cannes69. The film is set in the tense French banlieues told through the eyes of Mounia, a young 2G, who seems to have no choice but to enter the spiral of anger and lawlessness that the place where she lives offers her.

Houda is a friend of our Festival, who also won with the short film Sur la route du paradis, a title in the COEmedia Distribuzione Cinema Catalogue.

Asia

Rain of Memories (Omohide poroporo), My Neighbors the Yamadas (Honokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun), The Story of the Shining Princess (Kaguyame no monogatari) by Isao Takahata, founder together with Miyazaki of the famous Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation film studio that has created the greatest animated masterpieces of all time.

Latin America

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma is a film that certainly needs no introduction. The Mexican director has won many awards including the Oscar for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film.

A masterpiece, in an intense black and white, that follows the events of a family in Mexico City in the 70s, suspended between the drama of a painful separation and the awareness of the differences between social classes.

Much Ado About Nothing by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, a drama-film from Chile inspired by a real-life news story. The film tells us about a new “burnt youth” of high class, corruption and a judicial scandal that has divided public opinion.

The director was a guest at FESCAAAL in 2017 with his previous film, the thriller Matar a un hombre.

Instructions for use
Netflix is a subscription service with a fixed monthly cost starting at €7.99. Just do a search by title or director’s name to find the movies you want.

Happy viewing to all of you!
Some of the films we have mentioned are also available for rental in Italy in our COEmedia Distribuzione Cinema Catalogue. You can request them from us right now, because we know that, once this storm has passed, you’ll be back to bringing cinema to your cities and schools!

Let’s stay home and wait for your reviews and comments!