The title of Terni Film Festival 2020 is Contagion
“Contagion” will be the title of the sixteenth edition of Popoli e Religioni – Terni Film Festival, scheduled from 7 to 15 November 2020.
In the year of Coronavirus, the festival organized by Istess, the San Martino Association and Laboratorio Idea, talks about the pandemic and completely renews its formula as to deal with the health emergency and the disengagement of some historical supporters, but also to launch new challenges fifteen years after its foundation.
The festival leaves Terni to land in Valnerina and in Sabina
The main challenge will be to “infect” new territories: from the Terni film festival, in fact, this year Popoli e Religioni will turn into a widespread festival that comes out of the Municipality’s borders “infecting,” precisely, new territories such as Valnerina and Sabina.
The traditional nine evenings at the Politeama Cinema in Terni will, therefore, be replaced by a series of events scattered in many places in the area.
“Every crisis represents an opportunity,” explains Arnaldo Casali, the Artistic Director. “And we want to take it to experiment with new formulas: therefore, there will be no gatherings of many spectators in one place, but rather many small events that will animate various locations. We will multiply the screenings to allow many people to see the films, but at different times and, above all, we will aim to revitalize abandoned places in the territory.”
Multiple screenings and live meetings in streaming
The screenings will, therefore, remain in the presence of the audience. “We have never considered the idea of creating the festival online only. Events like ours are the opportunities for meetings in person. Such a meeting will, however, be recalibrated: not hundreds of people for a single event, but few people at a time, at various locations. It will be a new way of experiencing the festival, which will not lose its community dimension but, on the contrary, it will strengthen it.”
Technology will play a fundamental role in this respect. “During the lockdown, we experienced Terni Film Festival Live: live Facebook events that have proved to be a great success; we will treasure that.”
If the screenings of the films remain in presence of the audience with screenings multiplied over the days, all the meetings with the guests, the concerts and the special events will be broadcast live on the Internet with a mobile direction, thanks to the collaboration with the Innovater Project.
Furthermore, many guests who cannot be physically present will connect via the Internet to participate in the festival in a virtual mode.
World’s first competition for virtual and augmented reality experiences
Among the great novelties of the 2020 edition of Terni Film Festival, there is the competition for virtual and augmented reality experiences.
“Five years ago we were the first film festival in Italy to propose a virtual reality event,” explains Casali, “this year we will be the first film festival in the world to include virtual and augmented reality experiences in the official competition, which will support feature films, documentaries and short films.”
Also in this case, since these are experiences for up to five people at a time, the event will, in this way, respect social distancing and give an even more intense and personal experience than that of the classic screening.
Pandemic and solidarity
The festival present the pandemic at 360 degrees: from the cinematographic works made during the lockdown to the repercussions of the emergency in the cinema world (all film and television productions have been blocked for more than four months) focusing, in particular, on the impact of Covid-19 on the poorest countries and on solidarity. A special competition will be dedicated to solidarity during the pandemic.
“Friends of Terni Film Festival”
Apart from the difficulties related to the health emergency, there is – even more serious – the economic one. Along with the growing success of the Festival and its prestige gained internationally, unfortunately, the financial support from the institutions continues to decrease. The most serious withdrawal from the support in 2020 is that of the Carit Foundation and that seriously jeopardizes the future of the event. For this reason, the popular support is becoming increasingly important; after the success achieved last year from the crowdfunding collection, this year, the festival re-launches the challenge of subscribing by creating a real “Supporters’ Club” that provides recognition and prizes for those who make donations.
“Friends of Terni Film Festival”
Apart from the difficulties related to the health emergency, there is – even more serious – the economic one. Along with the growing success of the Festival and its prestige gained internationally, unfortunately, the financial support from the institutions continues to decrease. The most serious withdrawal from the support in 2020 is that of the Carit Foundation and that seriously jeopardizes the future of the event. For this reason, the popular support is becoming increasingly important; after the success achieved last year from the crowdfunding collection, this year, the festival re-launches the challenge of subscribing by creating a real “Supporters’ Club” that provides recognition and prizes for those who make donations. FOR DONATE CLICK HERE
