Roma (Italy). From 30 August to 9 September 2023, the National Association CGS (Cinecircoli Giovanili Socioculturali), active since 1967 and promoted in Italy by the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, renewed its presence at the Lido of Venice for the 80th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, with cultural animation work linked to the critical in-depth study of cinematographic language and web review promoted within the Venezia Cinema Laboratory.
This year, 23 cultural operators took turns at the Laboratory, distributed in two shifts, coming from Marche, Liguria, Lombardy, Sardinia, Veneto, and Puglia, all animators of communication and of culture belonging to the Salesian environments of the CGS, the majority of whom were aged between 18 and 29 years old.
This is a qualifying step of the CGS national formation course, reserved for cultural animators aged 18 and over and which has changed over the course of its forty years of life, up to the formula today aimed above all at young people and attentive to the dissemination through the web of cinematographic culture. The setting for the most prestigious and “oldest” Film Festival in the world, which this year celebrated its 91 years, is excellent, in particular for the opportunity to participate from the privileged perspective of accredited members.
Beyond watching the films scheduled in the various sections of the Exhibition, young people are involved in a daily multi-voiced discussion with contemporary cultural scenarios, also through operational training on the language of Cinema, which takes the form of producing reviews and film profiles published daily in the “Fuori dal coro” section of the site www.sentieridicinema.it and usable immediately after the presentation of the films.
Furthermore, for 26 years, the group participating in the Laboratory has also held the role of Jury of the “Lanterna Magica” Award, recognized by the Film Festival among the collateral Awards, assigned by the Cinecircoli Giovanili Socioculturali to the most significant film for issues related to the world of young people, linked to education and personal growth.
At the end of the Exhibition, in the setting of the “Spazio Cinematografo”, curated by the CEI Entertainment Agency Foundation at the Hotel Excelsor in Venice, the CGS Jury awarded the “Magic Lantern” Award (XXVI edition) to the film IO CAPITANO, by Matteo Garrone, with the following motivation:
For having constructed a coming-of-age story through the topos (theme) of the journey towards the realization of one’s dreams, common to many adolescents, but set against the backdrop of the dramatic problem of migration and the ‘routes of hope’.
At the center of the narrative stand the courage and determination of Seydou who, in a world in which we tend to circumvent our own responsibility, becomes a man when he assumes his role to the full, taking charge above all of the weakest, up to the point of the final scream that recalls the title.
Interesting, from the point of view of language, is the use of very careful photography, with a light that favors warm and enveloping tones, to underline the colors and shades of Africa. The dreamlike and visionary incursions that accompany the journey give the story some luminous fairy-tale suggestions.”
On 9 September 2023, great was the joy of the CGS operators in seeing “their film” – the contemporary odyssey of Seydou and Moussa who from Dakar, Senegal, embark on the dangerous journey in the desert and on a boat full of migrants to reach Europe – proclaimed winner of the Silver Lion award for best director, and of the “Marcello Mastroianni” Award to the protagonist Seydou Sarr, 21 years old, the debuting Senegalese protagonist of Io Capitano.
In the photo, a representative of the CGS Jury together with Nicola Claudio and Paolo Del Brocco, respectively President and CEO of RAI Cinema.
Source: cgsweb.it
