Giffoni’s cinema for children experience goes to Macedonia

Oct. 16 – It appeals to kids and adults: after more than forty years of successes, the Giffoni Film Festival continues to be a highly anticipated event. “Of all the Festivals out there – said François Truffaut – the Giffoni Festival is the most necessary,” because it has an international feel, it offers moments of confrontation with directors, authors and performers, but above all because the Salerno Festival is much more than a showcase. The Giffoni experience puts the new generations at the center, giving them space and a voice. And now the Giffoni Film Festival – after having already been hosted in other countries, from Qatar to Brazil – is ready to arrive in Macedonia. The first edition of the Giffoni Macedonia Youth Film festival will take place from tomorrow until Tuesday, October 22 in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. The Millennium Movie Theatre, the Youth Center, the National Film Archive and the University of the Arts will host event. The opening ceremony will be held tomorrow at 7:30pm with the Ambassador of the Italian Republic in Macedonia Ernesto Massimino Bellelli. The formula of the event will follow the successful and well-established GFF format, with a jury composed of 500 youngsters between the ages of 10 and 18 from six countries: Albania, Greece, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. Together, that will view a selection of the films presented during the latest edition of the Giffoni Film Festival. The theme for this first edition is “Step (Paths).” “The activity of the Giffoni Experience in Macedonia – says managing director Claudio Gubitosi – tries to engage the entire Balkan region. Albania has been the hub for the Giffoni Experience; but Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia will follow. Our presence will also, hopefully, enable young people to organize, promote and integrate fully into Europe. The Giffoni World Alliance, a project that we have been carrying out for year, doesn’t only export a brand that in 2013 reached amazing results, but also a new concept of interaction among younger generations of different areas of the world. After the Republic of Macedonia in November, the Giffoni Experience will be in Albania, then in Doha, Qatar, and in January 2014 in Brazil, with the second edition of Giffoni Sao Paulo.”