Alejandro González Iñárritu Guest Star at Ischia Festival

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of Babel, (a film defined by critics as “the manifesto of globalized culture” and seven-time Oscar candidate in 2007) is the star of the ”Social Cinema Forum,” which will take place at Ischia’s Regina Isabella Hotel from July 10th to the 15th during the fifth Global Film & Music Fest (www.ischiaglobal.com).
The festival will also feature directors like Davis Guggenheim (winner of the 2007 Oscar for the docu-film An Inconvenient Truth), Terry Gilliam, Marshall Herskovitz, Daniele Lucchetti, and Marco Risi; screenwriters like Bobby Moresco (2006 Oscar winner for Crash), Braulio Mantovani (2002 Oscar candidate for City of God, and Vince Morelli together with Douglas Greenberg (director of the U.S.C. Shoah Foundation) and many other Italian and international personalities from the worlds of culture and show business.
For the first time in Italy, these key players will exchange views on topics of general interest such as the environment, the climate, alternative energy sources, the development of the poorest areas of the planet, tolerance, and the role that the international film industry can have in this scenario.

During the course of the Global Fest, Iñárritu will receive the Ischia Global Award, sponsored by Fiuggi, for his cinema’s contribution to the dialogue between different cultures and ethnic groups in a particularly difficult moment for the “new world society.” His recent masterpiece Babel was shot in four languages with a stellar cast: Brad Pitt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Cate Blanchett, and the young Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi (candidate for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar).

Forty-three years old, producer and musician Iñárritu (who is married and has two children) was the first Mexican director to receive an Oscar nomination for best director. He first revealed his talents in Amores Perros (Oscar nominee for best foreign language film and winner of the Critics Week Award at Cannes) and had already made a Hollywood film: 21 Grams, with Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts, and Sean Penn.

The Argentinean musician Gustavo Santaolalla will also be at Ischia to receive the “Special Film and Music Prize, sponsored by the Venice Casinò. Last February he won his second consecutive Oscar thanks precisely to the soundtrack for Babel (he won his first last year for the music of The Secrets of Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee).

Fifty-five years old, founder of the Argentinean rock band Arco Iris as well as producer of groups like Molotov and Juanes, Santaolalla will also perform in Ischia with his latest band “Bajofondo Tango Club” (twelve pieces), with whom he will tour Europe all summer long. Among his most famous soundtracks: the song “Iguazù” for the film The Insider by Michael Mann, the soundtracks for Amores Perros and 21 Grams by Iñárritu, and that of Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, for which he won the BAFTA prize (the British Oscar).

The fifth Ischia Global Film & Music Fest is produced by the International Art Academy of Ischia, with the Tourist Agency of the Islands of Ischia and Procida and the support of the Regional Ministry for Tourism of the Campania Region as well as the Film Board of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The event will be chaired by director Paul Haggis (winner of two Oscars in 2006 for the film Crash). The program features special screenings, performances, encounters with artists, meetings with producers, and the classic Kimbo Cinema Forum to explore timely themes in depth.

The following four special events are planned:

1) Brazilian Cinema - reality and perspectives in the global era
2) Social Cinema Forum – local ideas for the future of global cinema
3) World Script Market
4) Movie Educational Seminar in collaboration with Cinecittà Holding and the C.U.C. (University Film Council)
5) 4th International Film Music Symposium