Siff 2006 | 3^ Edizione

The films «The naked bread» by Rachid Benhadj and «The lives of the saints» by Rankin and Chris Cottam were designated ex aequo winners by the jury of the third edition of the «Salento international film festival» (Siff), the international cinema exhibition which took place in Tricase from 9 to 17 September. The technical jury of «Siff 2006» was chaired by Bruno Rubeo and composed of Richard Harrison, Fabio Segatori and Elena Arvigo. As far as feature films are concerned, the jurors awarded the ex aequo victory to the films “The Naked Bread” by Rachid Benhadj (taken from the autobiographical book of the same name by Mohammed Choukri, a Moroccan writer who died in 2003), starring the Italian Marzia Tedeschi, and «The lives of the Saints» by Rankin and Chris Cottam. The protagonist of this film is a mysterious 10-year-old boy who disrupts the lives of the inhabitants of the suburbs of North London, where Mr. Karva, a small crime boss.” The feature film was produced by Augusto Romano’s «Meltin’ Pot» from Salento.

The award for best documentary was awarded to Francesco Raganato for «San Giuseppe da Copertino», and that of Città di Tricase, assigned by a jury composed of the mayor Antonio Coppola and the municipal council, went to «Five moments of infidelity», directed by the Australian Kate Gorman and played by Amanda Douge, and it is a film about infidelity and the relationship between couples. Finally, the public award, «People Choice Award», was awarded to the film «A Dios Momo» by Leonardo Ricagni. What struck the voters and won the prize for the Uruguayan film was – underlines the press release – «the exciting transposition onto the screen of the touching story of a street child, Obdulio, who sells newspapers for a living, but cannot read or write . Soon, however, he will become friends with a magical teacher who will teach him not only to read, but also the true meaning of life.”

On the occasion of the awards ceremony which took place last night, the feature film «Blood Ties» directed by Paola Columba with music by the Bari saxophonist Rocco Ventrella, produced by Fabio Segatori who edited it, was presented as a preview out of the program. also the screenplay together with the director herself. The film tells the story of four brothers who are fighting over a question of inheritance: Peppe, the older brother, farmer and hard worker, Giovanni, the black sheep, spendthrift and braggart, Andrea, the most fragile, disabled one and Luana, the sister who carries on the family by inevitably sacrificing herself. Arnoldo Foà is also in the cast. After the screening of the film out of competition, the saxophonist from Bari Rocco Ventrella performed some of his musical pieces.

Source: Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno