30/05/2024 - The 20th edition is taking place from 7-16 June in Bologna, with a vast programme that includes the most interesting documentary and biographical titles from Italy and the rest of the world

The 20th edition of the Biografilm Festival opens on Friday 7 June in Bologna with the Italian premiere of Suspended Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Olivier Assayas, in competition at the 2024 Berlinale. The French director will receive the Celebration of Lives Award. The closing night, on Sunday 16 June, will offer the Italian premiere of the documentary on the Ukraine war Turn in the Wound by Abel Ferrara, with the director in attendance.

77 films are programmed in the eight sections of the official selection, with 58 premieres which include 19 world premieres. There are 28 first and second films, 12 of which will compete for the Hera “Nuovi Talenti” awards in the International Competition and Biografilm Italia sections.

The International Competition gives space to ten of the most recent and notable documentary productions in the world. Those include the second film by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, titled Agent of Happiness [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Bhutan/Hungary), about an agent appointed by the state to measure the happiness of the population; Gerlach by Aliona van der Horste and Luuk Bouwman (Netherlands), the portrait of a farmer who has been growing vegetables next to Amsterdam airport for 60 years, threatened by real-estate agents; Helke Sander: Cleaning House, the second film by Claudia Richarz (Germany), about the radical director and activist of the "new German cinema"; Isabelle Stengers: fabriquer de l’espoir au bord du gouffre by Fabrizio Terranova (Belgium), about the titular multifaceted Belgian philosopher; the debut The Black Garden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alexis Pazoumian (France/Belgium), which takes us to the eternal Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; Life Is Beautiful [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine/Qatar), about the fight for Palestinian and filmmaker rights by the director himself, stuck in Norway; The Lost Notebook [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Ida Marie Gebdjerg Sørensen (Denmark/Hungary), which digs into the identity of a Hungarian family made of three generations of cinephiles; Marching in the Dark [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Kinshuk Surjan (Belgium/Netherlands/India), about Sanjivani's struggle in rural India after the suicide of her farmer husband; Mixtape La Pampa by Andrés Di Tella (Argentina/Chile), which follows the traces of the enigmatic Guillermo Enrique Hudson; and The Monk by Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen (Denmark/Netherlands), the story of Danish HIV researcher Jan Erik Hansen, who became a Buddhist monk.

Biografilm Italia will present ten documentaries of Italian production and co-production, among which we highlight Un milione di granelli di sabbia [+see also:
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film profile] by Andrea Deaglio, Un paese di resistenza by Shu Aiello and Catherine Catella, The Roller, The Life, The Fight [+see also:
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film profile] by Elettra Bisogno and Hazem Alqaddi, The Gospel According to Ciretta [+see also:
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film profile] by Caroline von der Tann, and Che ore sono by Tito Puglielli and Marta Basso.

Finally, a reminder about Bio to B – Industry Days, the market dedicated to film and television players for sales, options, acquisitions, networking, updates and training. The first days (10-11 June) will be dedicated to European documentary professionals who will present their projects in development to an audience of decision makers (Cannes Docs | Marché du Film, Sundance, Amazon Studios, Rai Cinema, Rai Documentari, Sky Entertainment Channels, Cinecittà and other international sales companies, broadcasters, producers and festival representatives). On the third day, 12 June, From Book to Film will be dedicated to the search for stories to produce and to the relationships between the publishing and audiovisual industries.

(Translated from Italian)