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Monte-Carlo Film Festival of Comedy. Keeping the Arts Alive !
Under The High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco
Doesn’t the phrase “ARS Gratia ARTIS” (Latin for “art for art”) appear in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo? The sequence, lasting a few seconds which sees a lion roar in the name of art for art, Jack Goldstein created in 1975: art wants to be autonomous, it wants to establish itself as a separate reality by integrating itself into the art industry of entertainment. Shows, concerts and films are the means that the entertainment industry uses to reach the soul of humanity. During the isolation of the Lock-down it revealed all its importance, it brought relief to the confined people by allowing them to imagine a different reality. Artists have find the strength to keep creativity alive despite confinement . Hard hit by the crisis , our actors, dancers, singers, musicians and others cultural stakeholders continue to demonstrate breathe-taking vivacity.
The 17th Edition of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival of Comedy was due to start at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco last spring. Reported, due to the pandemic to the month of July, the Festival, in order to ensure a completely safe performance, has been postponed to October 2020, from Monday 5th to Saturday 10th. Unfortunately, the meteorological disaster that occurred, a few days first, in the hinterland of Nice, Piedmont and Liguria, it veiled the Festival of sadness and apprehension.
Ezio Greggio, president of the Comités di Monaco, which conceived and directs the Festival, said during the press conference that “The Show Must Go On” especially this year during which the entertainment industry experienced its most great crisis. A terrible economic impact has hit all the workers of the 7th Art.
80% less of film productions meant for thousands of people the loss of wages and livelihoods. An unprecedented crisis. This 17th edition of the Festival wants to denounce its gravity and the urgent importance of restarting, in full compliance with all safety measures. While it is true that you can take a plane safely, you can also consider going to the cinema or the theater safe.
That said we can present the 17th edition of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival of Comedy: the president of the festival jury, Nick Vallelonga received two Oscars for the film “Green Book”. Actor, screenwriter, producer, he has been the director of several films (including “Choker And Stiletto” and “Kingdom of The Blind”). He played a small role in George Gallo’s latest film “The comeback Trail” presented out of competition on the evening of Friday 9th October, as a world premiere. In this hilarious comedy, a remake of the 1982 film of the same name shot by Harry Hurwitz, two producers played by Robert De Niro and Zach Braff owe a large sum of money to a mobster played by Morgan Freeman. To find and return the money, they hire an old suicidal actor (Tommy Lee Jones) with the intent to kill him and collect the insurance money. In the film, actress Kate Katzman is the director of the western film that will become an Oscar-winning film despite the mediocre start!
The three movie stars, now very advanced in years, masterfully interpret the roles of the three elderly characters using all the movements and gestures that have fascinated the public during their career. They are overwhelming, unforgettable. On stage, in our opinion, they must have touched moments of pure laughter!
The prestigious review dedicated to comedy, conceived and directed by Ezio Greggio, ended on Saturday 10th October in the Salle Prince Pierre of the Grimaldi Forum where the gala with the award ceremony was held, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador , H.E. Giulio Alaimo.
The jury, chaired by Nick Vallelonga and composed of the Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, the Dutch actress Lotte Verbeek and the Spanish actress Maggie Civantos, decided the Palmares.
The awards for the best film, the best direction, the audience award and the special mention to the cast ensemble went to the German film Nightlife directed by Simon Verhoeven which tells the meeting of the barman Milo with the woman of his dreams , Sunny. The two fix an appointment but the romantic evening turns into a breathtaking race in the Berlin metropolis !
Best Actress Candela Peña in the film La Boda de Rosa (Rosa’s Wedding) directed by Iciar Bollain, for her extraordinary portrayal of a woman on the threshold of 45th who realizes that she has always lived her life in relation to others and tries to give a different twist to its existence. But changing the family scenario is not that easy !
The Best Actor Award went to Nando Paone for his performance in the film Il Ladro di Cardellini, by Carlo Luglio, for the role of an old forest guard who, to pay his debts, organizes a scam with 200 purebred white goldfinches replacing them with normal goldfinches !
French filmmaker Patrice Leconte received the Career Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award. He revealed that he wanted to work on the adaptation of a Tintin, The Castafiore Emerald , the narrative masterpiece wrote by Hergé !
Many other films enlivened the evenings of the festival. Among these two must-see comedies: Comrad Drakulich, a Hungarian film by Márk Bodzsár and the parody Mossad, a film made in Israel and directed by Alon Gur Arye.
Out of competition A Triomphe by Emmanuel Coucorl with the extraordinary interpretation of Kad Merad, in the role that sees him trying to create a theater studio in prison. A true story …. in search of Godot! Not to be missed !
As well as Flying Circus, a film made in Kosovo by Fatos Berisha that a few days earlier obtained, in Chalon-en-Champagne, the Palmares at the 8th Festival War on Screen
The event took place under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Embassy of Italy and was created in collaboration with EFG Private Bank of Monaco.
Culture and entertainment are indispensable for the economic recovery. Faced with an invisible enemy , we must again be passionate about the joy of living. Governments are elected by the people in order to protect their vital needs, including health. Unfortunately for the most part they are deaf and blind to the social problems that their unreasonable decisions raise. Good Courage!
Copyright Ely Galleani
Special thanks to Michela Percontino (??Version)
