Cinema

Historically, Friulian cinema makes its appearance at the start of the ‘80s, with Maria Zef by Vittorio Cottafavi, a film inspired by the novel written by Paola Drigo in 1936 bearing the same title. The film tells a story that Vittorio Cottafavi had intended to bring to life for many years. Set in Carnia, Maria Zef shows the tragedy of a young woman who lives in the mountains with her uncle and her younger sister and who ends up killing him to defend herself and her sister from his clutches. Writer Siro Angeli played a key role in the production of the film as not only was he the scriptwriter but also skilfully interpreted the protagonist. The film was broadcast many times by the regional RAI and presented at several international festivals and events.

Shot in 16 mm, then blown up to 35 mm, today the film is unable to be screened. In fact, the copies left are discoloured and also most of the sound is ruined. To make sure not to lose this heritage of our cinematography, a group of cultural entities – the Cineteca of Friuli in Gemona, il C.E.C. (Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche) in Udine and Cinemazero in Pordenone – have been pursuing for years the idea of restoring old films involving other entities and obviously RAI that owns the related rights. The project also envisages the distribution of film in DVD along with a book that will be edited by the critic Sergio Grmek Germani.

In the same years of Maria Zef other works were produced, both amateurial and professional, such as I varès volût vivi by Pittini or the Friulian versions of 1986 of the trilogy Cuitrileture part prime, seconde e tierce (versions enriched with new introductory shootings) by Marcello De Stefano, one of the directors that are most sensitive to our reality, who reproposed the Friulian issue in all its facets through the essay-film.

Before then, the few films produced in Friuli were all in Italian. These include La sentinella della patria by Chino Ermacora and, above all, Gli ultimi by Vito Pandolfi and David Maria Turoldo. A fundamental boost to our film production surely came from the Mostre dal Cine Furlan, a biennial festival created in 1988 by the Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche of Udine with the objective of stimulating and spreading our cinema. Thanks to this event, in the ‘90s there was a qualitative and quantitative growth in products: from feature films to documentaries, from experimental films to cartoons.

The seventh art is involving an increasing number of professionals and enthusiasts. Among these we can mention Lauro Pittini, Lorenzo Bianchini and Massimo Garlatti-Costa as regards fiction; Benedetto Parisi, Giancarlo Zannier as regards fairy tales and folk stories; Dorino Minigutti and Renato Calligaro as regards teaching and artistic films; Remigio Romano, Carlo Della Vedova and still Parisi as regards documentaries. In conclusion, high professionalism is developing in the field of cinematography in Friuli, though there are still too many structural and organizational drawbacks that slow down its growth.

• Friulian language cinema and other visual arts

  The birth of the Friulian cinema can be said to date from 1981 with Vittorio Cottafavi’s Maria Zef, a film based on Paola Drigo’s 1936 novel of the same title. A key figure in the project was Siro Angeli, who not only wrote the screenplay but also played the lead magnificently.

  Other outstanding films were made around the same time Maria Zef was being filmed, such as Lauro Pittini’s I varès volût vivi, or the Friulian version of Controlettura (Cuintrileture, with the addition of new material), by Marcello De Stefano.

  De Stefano also wrote a screenplay in the Friulian language far earlier, in 1954-55, when he was still attending the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, well aware that language is a key component in creating a people’s sense of identity and is not merely an expressive, outer sheath. So it was that between 1981 and 1984 he made Grafiz tun orizont on the figure of the blessed Luigi Scrosoppi, the first film on a religious subject in our cinema. In 1986 he decided to make a Friulian-language version of the trilogy Controlettura – Una linfa che scorre – Uomo, macchina, uomo, which became Cuintrileture part prime, seconde e tierce, his most important work on the meaning and values of an ethnic group, and on what it can give the world of today. Marcello De Stefano’s is an unusual cinema, a cinema halfway between a documentary and a feature film, a genre he described as a “docufilm”. It is an aesthetic exploration of new means of expression; it does not confine its content to the pure record of reality, but attempts to convey an original view of the world to the audience and prompt discussion and reflection.

  In order to promote films shot in marilenghe (mother tongue – Friulian), Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche – CEC in Udine, decided in 1988 to organize Mostre dal Cine Furlan, a festival to be held every two years to showcase everything produced in this field and to stimulate fresh creativity in the cinema.

  It is thanks to this event above all that there was a constant improvement in the quality and quantity of films produced in the 1990s, from feature films to documentaries, from experimental films to cartoons. This was the context that generated a number of filmmakers who went on to make themselves known to the cinema-going public, such as Lauro Pittini, Lorenzo Bianchini, Massimo Garlatti-Costa, Benedetto Parisi, Giancarlo Zannier, Dorino Minigutti, Renato Calligaro, Remigio Romano, Carlo Della Vedova and many more besides.

  While film production was largely amateur in the early stages, it became increasingly professional over the years, to the point where some of the filmmakers mentioned above became full-time directors and renowned producers. This professionalization bore its first fruit at the turn of the century. In 1999 Lorenzo Bianchini made the medium-length film I dincj de lune, the first example of a horror film in the Friulian language (Bianchini returned to the genre two years later with his highly-successful Lidrîs cuadrade di trê), while Lauro Pittini shot a biopic on the writer Pieri Menis (Pieri Menis, ricuarts di frut).

  In the same year Carlo Della Vedova and Luca Peresson made the first documentary in the Farcadice series (encompassing five films: Colonia Caroya, Charleroi, Umkomaas, Toronto and Italia), which tell the story of Friuli emigration to all corners of the world. In 2000 Massimo Garlatti-Costa shot the comedy Buris, libars di scugnî vignî, followed in 2004 by the documentary Friûl, viaç te storie. From that point on, documentaries would constitute the lion’s share of film productions.

  Indeed, the years after 2004 saw a great flowering of documentary film making, both classical and creative. Besides Massimo Garlatti-Costa’s Friûl, viaç te storie already mentioned, Dorino Minigutti delved into archive material in 2004 to make his Nûfcent, videosclesis dal Friûl, a collage of ten mini-stories, each of which representing a decade of the past century, which evoke the stories and political events that have had an important impact in Friuli, sometimes tragically. Minigutti gathered and selected the most significant and unusual archive material and incorporated commentary by means of a special editing technique that retells our land’s history in a completely fresh way, highlighting both times of hardship and times of laughter, while avoiding all trace of rhetoric or nostalgia.

  The film was shot in two parts, Nûfcent, videosclesis dal Friûl (part 1), which includes the first five episodes covering the early part of the century, made in 2004, and a second part made in 2006. Dorino Minigutti’s film won the 2007 “Mario Quargnolo” prize, a prize awarded by Mostre dal Cine Furlan.

  In 2005 Stiefin Morat and Giorgio Cantoni introduced a strong experimental note in their documentary on the river Tagliamento and the people who live along its banks. Entitled Mugulis, the film won first prize at the 2005 Mostre dal Cine Furlan. Stefano Morandini chose a decidedly classical style to record a tradition that is still keenly observed in the mountain region of Carnia, but which was present throughout Friuli at least until the 1950s – namely the use of tree frogs and wooden clappers (instead of bells) to commemorate Christ’s Passion. Entitled Crasulas a Enemonç, was highly commended and won the Mario Quargnolo prize that same year.

  The other great documentary series was Farcadice by Carlo Della Vedova and Luca Peresson. The saga began in 1999 with Farcadice – Diari di viaç, Colonia Caroya, Argjentine, continuing in 2006 in its aim of recording the various phases in Friulian emigration to all parts of the world with Farcadice, diari di viaç: Charleroi, Belgjiche, which focused on one of the most tragic events associated with it. Many people left Friuli to seek work in Belgium, only to encounter sickness and disaster in that country’s coal mines.

  There were several other excellent documentaries made in 2006, such as Sul troi par Lucau, by Lauro Pittini, which recorded one of the most earnestly observed traditions in Carnia, a pilgrimage whose sacred nature has always been combined with its role as a link between two neighbouring peoples: the Carinthians and the Friulians.

  Other films made that year include L’amôr une volte, by Michele Federico, Storiis in cuatri lenghis by Erica Barbiani, Sergio Beltrame and Vera Tomasin (winner of 2007 Quargnolo prize), Gianni Fachin’s Furlans di Romania and Irene Rubini’s La Fradaie dai Teracîrs e Mosaiciscj Furlans inte Americhe dal Nord. The last of these, which puts the spotlight on the extraordinary centuries-long history, talent and works of Friulian mosaicists and marble decorators around the world, was followed up two years later with La lungje strade dai teracîrs e mosaiciscj furlans in Europe, by the same director.

  The year 2007 saw the filming of Farcadice, diari di viaç, Umkomaas, Sud Afriche, the third episode of Farcadice, tracking native Friulians to the South African diaspora, leading into the fourth and final episode, Farcadice, diari di viaç, Toronto, Canada, which makes a considerable leap in time and space to visit the Friulian community in Toronto. Dorino Minigutti returned with a sports documentary entitled Il balon tal cjâf – a series of eight interviews with athletes.  A particularly captivating and surprising documentary was a work presented by Fernando Birri, a director with an international reputation, whose poetic multilingual short, Elegia friulana, is a homage to his family’s origins.

  Last, but not least, Alberto Fasulo’s Rumore bianco, is a tribute to the Tagliamento, the lands it snakes through and the men and women who live there. Fasulo comes from San Vito al Tagliamento and is a film director (and now also a producer) who has built a considerable career in the industry over the years. Before directing Cos’è che cambia?, an affectionate depiction of the town of his birth, Fasulo had worked with various filmmakers as director’s assistant, assistant cameraman, cameraman and live sound technician. He also helped produce the Friulian-language documentary entitled Babel blu (whose theme is the flag of Friuli), which was directed by Renato Rinaldi.

  Another fine documentary that should not be overlooked is Cjavelârs e pelassíers, by Fredo Valla and Nereo Zeper, about the hair-gatherers who used to travel from the Occitan valleys in northwestern Italy (especially from the town of Elva) all the way down the Po valley until they reached Friuli. Fredo Valla is an Occitan documentary filmmaker, whose many projects include conceiving and writing the screenplay for the film E il vento fa il suo giro / E l’aura fai son vir, directed by Giorgio Diritti (2007). He has nurtured a close relationship with Friuli over the years and many of his films have been screened at the various Mostre dal cine Furlan, one edition of which saw him included as a member of the jury.

  Autogrill, the first sitcom in the Friulian language was filmed in 2008 and consisted of six episodes directed by Claudia Brugnetta and broadcasted by RAI (Friuli – Venezia Giulia regional broadcasting centre of the Italian national broadcasting company). This was followed in 2014 by Bed & Breakfast, a seven-episode series created and directed by Claudia Brugnetta and written by Barbara Bregant and Federico Scridel.

  Visins di cjase, directed by Marco Londero and Giulio Venier, both from Gemona, was made in 2012. The screenplay is by Renzo Brollo and was commended at the Concors par Tescj Cinematografics competition. Around the same time, Alessandro Di Pauli and Tommaso Pecile began to give concrete form to their project Felici ma Furlans, another sitcom that was extremely successful with the general public, especially online.

  The link between music and cinema has been reinforced over the years thanks to Marco D’Agostini’s recent documentary films: JNK, oltri la ultime frontiere (2013) and the various films dedicated to Suns Europe, which have been shot since 2015, when the first edition of the European Festival of Performing Arts in Minority Languages was held. Besides documenting what occurs during the event, which every year at the beginning of December turns Udine and Friuli into the Europe’s multilingual and creative hub, the documentary also records the views of the artists taking part. This is an important example of what it means today to use one’s mother tongue in an artistic context.

  It is worth concluding this overview by mentioning the latest significant docufilms. This category certainly includes Massimo Garlatti – Costa’s Missus (2017) and Predis (2018), which examine the still largely neglected “Glesie Furlane” movement and its role in the struggle for Friulian autonomy.

• TV, online and audiovisual productions

  Productions designed specifically for a television audience or to be put online deserve to be considered separately. These projects were developed from 2008 onwards and cover a wide variety of styles (ranging from sitcoms to cartoons) and are aimed at different target audiences. These include: two sitcoms produced directly by the RAI regional broadcasting studio, Autogrill (2008) and Bed & Breakfast (2014), by Claudia Brugnetta; two works by Massimo Garlatti, Suns and Ator, on the culture and music scenes in Friuli; Giorgio Cantoni’s series entitled +Sklet, made between 2005 and 2015; the comedy series Felici ma Furlans, by Alessandro Di Pauli and Tommaso Pecile (first season 2010-2012, second season 2014), which was extremely well received by viewers, especially those watching online; INT/ART, three series of documentaries on young artists from Friuli who use the Friulian language in their works (music, visual arts, theatre, dance), a project conceived and created by Dorino Minigutti and Giorgio Cantoni between 2016 and 2018.

  Added to these are the documentaries on Suns Europe, the European Festival of Performing Arts in Minority Languages, made by Marco D’Agostini. Starting in 2015, each film records the impressions of the artists taking part to each edition and is broadcasted by the local RAI studios in Trento and Trieste as part of their Ladin and Friulian language programming.

  The most recent TV drama is Friûl Revolution (2015). This mini-series of five episodes lasting twenty minutes each was devised by the comedy trio I Cjastrons and directed by Marco d’Agostini. Shooting covered some thirty different locations in Friuli, from Crostis to Palmanova, from Udine to Dignano, and saw 150 non-professional “actors” performing over a period of forty days.

  Children’s television is also catered to with Âf blu (2015), a cartoon conceived, written, put to music, acted, drawn and animated entirely by Friulians. The pilot episode was created by Centro Teatro Animazione e Figure in Gorizia, in collaboration with ARLeF. In 2017 ARLeF also lent its support to a three-year project involving the Tucker film production company. Lastly, cartoons in Friulian – translations of works produced in Italian or English – are another interesting niche. These include: Pimpa, the Friulian version of a famous cartoon created by Francesco Tullio Altan and translated into Friulian for the regional RAI studios by Elio Bartolini; Berto Lôf, a translation of Silver’s Lupo Alberto, created by Elio Bartolini and Giancarlo Deganutti for the regional RAI TV station; and Omenuts, the Friulian version of Mattel-Fischer Price’s cartoon Little People, made by Massimo Garlatti-Costa with ARLeF’s support. The most recent of these works (2018) is the Friulian-language version of the cartoon Tui e Tuie, which tells the story of two frolicking kittens. The original was a Russian production and the translation into Friulian was undertaken by Belka Media, the film being made by Raja Films, with the support of ARLeF.

• Educational videos and documentaries

  The first experiment of educational video is Videoscais, a production dating back to 1991 promoted by the Chair of the Faculty of Modern Languages of the University of Udine and consisting of a collection of episodes featuring the members of a family. The video that is directed by Giancarlo Velliscig, was created as part of a bilingual Italian-Friulian educational project. Two years later, in the same framework, Renato Calligaro produced Lis striis di Gjermanie, a video taken from the story by Caterina Percoto with the same title, in which the artist creatively combines his drawings with actors in the flesh, fantasy and reality.

  In 1995 Dorino Minigutti produced Bielscrivint, the story of Miute, a little girl that gets lost in the “world of writing” and escapes thanks to the help of an Agane (an undine, a mythological figure). Dorino Minigutti is a producer of documentaries and feature films, especially those dealing with social issues (disability, drug addiction, Aids) and is also a scriptwriter. In 1999 he produced Intrics, a fantasy story of wizards, elves, pixies and children, all captivated by a machine that generates proverbs and nursery rhymes, whilst the ogre Mastiefumate does everything in his power to stop it. For the same project, in 1997 Giuseppe Bevilacqua and Mara Udine had produced Linea dreta, linias dretas taken from a story by poet Leonardo Zanier who played himself in this “fantasy plot around a brief story set in Carnia”.

  If we also consider La sentinella della patria (1927) we could probably state the very first form of Friulian cinema is represented by documentaries. And documentary production played an important part also later on. In 1996 Marco Rossitti (lecturer of history of cinema) produced Il liutâr (The lute-maker) a sort of poetic tribute to this noble profession that is still practised in our territory. In any case, already back in 1988, Antonio Magliocchetti had produced Jo o soi stade dome une volte al cine, an interview-film that won the second prize at the Mostre. Carlo Della Vedova and Luca Peresson, in 1999, explored the reality of the Friulian community of Colonia Caroya (Argentina) through Farcadice (also broadcast by Ladin television) and, in the same year Benedetto Parisi – who, in its production in Italian had canvassed the reality of Roms and the new immigration – depicted in Tony the humanity of an unusual character, a road artist called Tony Zavatta. In 2001, the same author produced Gnovis dal Brasîl based on the figure and life choices of a Friulian missionary who lives in one of Brazil’s poorest areas.

  For the sake of completeness, worthy of notice is La fontana di Bosplans (1997) by Michele Marcolini and Vuere dome di ricuarts by Gianni Fachin (award-winning at the 7th edition of the Mostre).

  The works by Remigio Romano that, through filmed image, reconstructs a bygone world, should deserve special mention. In Une zornade a seselâ (1993), he reproduces field labour as it was performed back in the 30s and 40s and, in Il purcit (1997) through the words of Mauro Corona, he recalled the meaning and importance of this animal for rural families. In 1997 Massimo Garlatti-Costa produced Il piligrin, a piece of work halfway through experimentation, provocation and fun. In previous years, the director who now lives and works in Great Britain, had produced with the “Slapagnots” group (Roberto Copetti, Massimiliano Lancerotto and Fabio Venuti) a screwball comedy film entitled Tele Frico (1993) and later, two other research works entitled La sielte (1994) and Precarie Armonie (1995). But Garlatti produced his most complete work in 2001, Buris, libars di scugnî vignî, a film that was extremely successful in a commercial cinema theatre. It is a 38-minute comedy that depicts an imaginary village of Friuli where, to overcome the economic crisis, an unemployed person sets up a pornographic film production company that quickly becomes one of the leaders of the film industry worldwide.

  Buris opens the doors to a new season of the Friulian cinema, a cinema that starts feeling ready to overcome a merely local vision and capable of representing the most diverse situations and genres. But, as we will see later on, this leap in quality is not always totally free from ambiguities. In this context, in 1999 Lorenzo Bianchini shot I dincj de lune, the first horror film in Friulian. The film, featuring a style that will become the trademark of its author, combines typical aspects and backgrounds of the territory and elements that characterise the classic horror genre. In 2001, Bianchini produced Lidrîs cuadrade di trê, a full-length film featuring three high-school students. After realising they made too many mistakes in a test and fearing they might fail, the three students decide to break into the school at night to replace their papers before the teacher corrects them. But unexpected events occur that night and the students find out things they weren’t supposed to know. The film was screened several times, always reaping a lot of success, and was also reviewed by a French magazine. Bianchini also completed and presented another of his films, Custodes bestiae, where, however, the dialogues in Friulian only feature in a small part of the film.

  In any case, in the new context referred to above, we have the feeling that the use of the language is often linked to an instrumental understanding, i.e. when the language is used being worried about “being faithful to a specific reality” rather than seeing it as a communication code, with all that that choice could entail. In other words, we are under the impression that the author is facing an “object” that does not belong to him” but “only belongs to the reality he is illustrating”. Paradoxically, if on one hand there is a flourishing of contents, if one considers genres, if one examines new settings, on the other hand the language remains chained to a self-referential dimension, condemned to remain a simple expressive ornament rather than a communication vehicle.

  The years from 1999 to 2001 represent a rather exceptional time for our film production in terms of both quantity and quality. In fact, the films mentioned earlier on, such as Pieri Menis, ricuarts di frut; Farcadice; Tony; Lidrîs cuadrade di trê; Gnovis dal Brasîl; Buris, libars di scugnî vignî, are from that period. But also works like La muart cui çucui by Giorgio Milocco and Andrea Nardon (1999), a 22-minute film that, playing on a dark black-and-white, radiates extraordinary expressive power. It tells the story of a youngster’s first day at work. An isolated factory in the middle of uncultivated fields, an unhealthy work environment, a tyrannous employer set the frame of his misadventures, a sort of nightmare, that the young worker must undergo. The film is both fantastic and symbolic (the old lady with the clogs that the young boy meets, the flock of crows, a factory that from the outside looks like an abandoned building) and also realistic (the world of work and its machines, its rules and its furious pace).

  In 2001, director Manlio Roseano directs a film taken from a novel by Sergio Cecotti, Il tierç lion: a detective film containing metaphysical elements, another example of genre films. However, Il tierç lion, was shot in 16 mm film and in Italian, and only after was it dubbed in Friulian and distributed in Betacam format in that version. The last edition of the Mostre (2003) awarded a prize to the feature film by Remigio Romano Âstu mai pensât di sposâti…in Comun? a parody of the “Promessi sposi” (“The Betrothed”) set in today’s time (that will also be broadcast by the regional RAI); it highlights Cuatri cjantons par une “francje” by Carlo Damasco (featuring Giuseppe Battiston; for a story written by Giovanna Zorzenon which won a prize at the Concors par Tescj Cinematografics del 2002); Lûs distudadis by Nicola Fraccalaglio and Thomas Marcuzzi and finally, as regards the section dedicated to children, La roie di Cussignà, the film by Liviana Calabrò.

  To conclude this path we cannot but mention the film by Christiane Rorato Vuerîrs de gnot, su lis olmis dai Benandants, presented at the d’Essai cinema in Udine at the end of 2003. Drawing upon the book by historian Carlo Ginzburg, the documentary is a research on what is left today of the Benandanti, the “good wizards” that during the XVI century were tried by the Inquisition and, more generally, on the traditions that are still alive in contemporary Friuli.

• Mostre dal Cine Furlan

  1988 undoubtedly represents an important moment for the development of our cinema, a breakthrough that will give new possibilities to local production. In fact, in that year the CEC of Udine conceived and organised the Mostre dal Cine Furlan, a biennial festival, a competition for Friulian films. It is a space open to filmmakers that have, in this way, the possibility of disseminating their work and an appointment that intends to be (and will be) a way of stimulating the creation and development of a new cinematography. The first edition was a sort of “experiment” with the aim of exploring the availability of cinema professionals and enthusiasts to produce films in Friulian and evaluate the response of the public. The attendance rate was such a surprise that there was great hope for the future and, edition after edition, we witnessed higher quality in the works presented, greater interest by the public and film lovers. Thus, the Mostre will slowly become a breeding ground of new authors among whom worthy of notice are: Lauro Pittini, Benedetto Parisi, Giancarlo Zannier, Dorino Minigutti, Paolo Cantarutti, Massimo Garlatti-Costa, Remigio Romano, Carlo Della Vedova and many more.

  The second edition of the festival (1991) was won by a short film by Lauro Pittini entitled I varès volût vivi. The film, shot in Super8 in 1981 and then transferred onto electronic means, narrates a true story, the drama of an emigrant who returns to his homeland after having worked in a mine for many years. Now old and suffering from silicosis, the protagonist questions himself on the meaning of life and on the reason for so much suffering. The film draws its originality and strength from the ability of the director to communicate the dramatic tension of the story and especially because the character interprets himself and what he recounts is the life he truly lived. Another interesting film presented in the same edition is worthy of notice: Cjossul by Michele De Mattio, a short film that, through an extraordinary black and white, mixing fiction, documentary and formal research, outlines the story of a peculiar character.

  Here we must say that experimentation started soon to appear on Friulian screens. In fact, still in 1991, two works of pure stylistic and formal research will be seen such as Rivoluzion planetarie by Paolo Cantarutti and L’omp by Daniela Toneatto.
  In 1993 Lauro Pittini produces a feature film entitled Prime di sere, a film inspired by the novel bearing the same title by Carlo Sgorlon. Shot in Betacam, without any particular subsidies, Prime di sere represents the summary of Pittini’s entire film production: films that dig into the characters to explore their psychologies, films that question themselves on human dramas and the meaning of life. The film tells the story of Liseo, a man convicted of manslaughter is released for good behaviour after years spent in prison. Morally and socially devastated, Liseo will try to reintegrate into society in every possible way. However, he will have to face people’s prejudices, the difficulties of finding a job, the mistrust and sometimes the wickedness of man. Abandoned by his relatives, Liseo will find abode in a room rented to him by a widow with a child. To him, that woman and her son represent what he has never had: family and understanding. Unlike the novel, the film does not actually end, leaving the door ajar for hope.
  Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in 1961, Lauro Pittini started shooting films at 15 in Super8. In 1984 he collaborated with the shooting and the script for the production of the film entitled Pinsîrs par dôs Istâts by Rino Gubiani (winner of the 1st edition of the Mostre). In addition to the aforesaid films, in 1983 he produced Colôrs di vite, in 1996 he was co-director of L’ereditât and in 1999 he shot Pieri Menis, ricuarts di frut (reported at the VI edition of the Mostre and seen by hundreds of students in schools). His works have been presented and obtained awards also in other European countries. Furthermore, he collaborated with RAI and wrote two works that were awarded prizes at the Concors par senegjaturis.

  In 1994, Benedetto Parisi produced Dopli funerâl, a folk tale, where the drawings by Laura Feruglio accompany the narrating voice of an old lady from Preone, recorded by anthropologist Enza Sina. Parisi has started to transpose legends and fairy tales into films since 1988, when he presented Cui isal content in chist mont? on the screens of the Udine festival, a film produced using videographics. The short film won the first prize then. In 1991 he directed two films: Une gnot in paradîs in collaboration with Gianfranco Casula, using the same technique, No è cussiença in chist mont, with actors and original masks, and, in 1992, La grape d’aur where he used the reprocessed shapes of the actors. His trip in the world of fairy tales and traditions continued in the following years with the production of La rusignole di Cretelungje (1995) (a Ladin fairy tale translated in Friulian) and three cartoon films – Cua, cua cua tachiti là; Il frut tal sac and Il princip bambin – which he produced in 2001 in collaboration with the students of IPSIA based in Gemona. But Parisi is stimulated by another interest: documentaries. The author has also produced the shortest film in the history of cinema: Integrazion (1997) which only lasts one minute.

  Giancarlo Zannier in 1995 directed Benandants, one of the few feature films of our cinema. In this film which deals with good-natured sorcerers that fought evil forces in a dream, Giancarlo Zannier uses different styles and reading levels: the realistic one to stage the witch trials according to historical documents and the fantasy one to represent the spiritual “trips” made by the Benandanti to fight the evil sorcerers. Giancarlo Zannier had started in 1988 by directing Il copari de muart, a tale interpreted by Renata Chiappino, the protagonist of Maria Zef. He will also direct other films such as Il timp dal venc (reported at the 1991 Mostre) and Meni Fari, 40e… Buine!!!, a modern reinterpretation of Meni Fari, shot in 2001.

• Concors par Tescj Cinematografics in Lenghe Furlane

  The “Concors par Tescj Cinematografics in Lenghe Furlane” was founded in 1996, originally as a competition for screenplays only. However, it was enlarged in 2002 and now includes four sections altogether: one for screenplays, one for film topics, one for essays and a fourth for articles of film criticism. Organized by CEC – Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, the “Concors” is held every two years, between the “Mostre dal Cine Furlan” events (now called just “Mostre dal Cine”), and each section has its own monetary prize for the winner and special mentions for other outstanding contributions. Prizewinning entries are then published in the Friulian cinema magazine “Segnâi di lûs”.

  A number of prominent personalities have acted as members of the jury in the event to date, including Elio Bartolini, Luca Vendruscolo, Giorgio Placereani, Giancarlo Deganutti, Xavier Lamuela, Dante Spinotti, Renato Calligaro, Roberto Iacovissi, Alessandra Kersevan, Marcello De Stefano, Giovanni Frau, Mariella Micelli, Daniele Fior, Maurizio Mattiuzza, Max Mauro, Giorgio Cantoni, Stefano Moratto, Gianni Pascoli, Paolo Cantarutti, Massimo Garlatti-Costa, Mario Turello and Donato Toffoli. Overall, 48 screenplays, 14 film topics, 1 piece of film criticism and 7 essays have been presented at the various editions of the “Concors”. At each event the CEC publishes and presents a book in Friulian (or in multiple languages) on a cinematographic topic directly or indirectly associated with Friuli. The two books published so far are: Cine e identitâts culturâls, la opare cinematografiche di Marcello De Stefano, by Lara Meroi (Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, Udine, 2007); Il cine furlan in lenghe furlane, by Sara De Simon (in three languages: Friulian, Italian, English) (Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, Udine, 2010).

  Curiosities

  PRIZEWINNERS AND SPECIAL MENTIONS

  SCREENPLAYS

  Ricuart di Otubar, by Lauro Pittini, 1996
  1996 prizewinner

  L’aiarin di Avrîl, by Giorgio Cantoni, 1996
  Special mention in 1996

  Parcè mi âstu fermât mame…, by Massimo Garlatti-Costa and Fabio Venuti
  Special mention in 1996

  Gnot a Patoc, by Lauro Pittini, 1998
  1998 prizewinner

  Il svindic da timp, by Franca Mainardis and Nazareno Petris, 1998
  Special mention in 1998

  Se finirà la gnot, by Gianni Gregoricchio, 1998
  Special mention in 1998

  Viatores, by Francesco Tami (Checo Tam), 2000
  2000 prizewinner

  La cjase des ortensiis, by Gianni Gregoricchio, 2000
  Special mention in 2000

  Il cuintribandîr, by Luigi Ercole and Caterina Baldissera, 2002
  2002 prizewinner

  Tierce fûr – un cine par strade, by Fabrizio Zamero
  2004 prizewinner

  La ultime pavee, by Luigi Ercole and Caterina Baldissera, 2006
  2006 prizewinner

  Dut intune gnot, by Stefano Gasti (written by Stefano Gasti and Raffaele Serafini)
  2008 prizewinner

  Visins di cjase, by Renzo Brollo
  Special mention in 2008

  Il cjapitani e il tamon, by Andrea (Andro) Peressutti and Riccardo Sabbadini, 2010
  2010 prizewinner

   

  FILM TOPICS

  Cuatri cjantons par une “francje”, by Giovanna Zorzenon, 2002
  2002 prizewinner

  No sta a pierdi il cjâf, by Alberto Di Giusto, 2004
  2004 prizewinner

  Arbui vistûts, by Raffaele Serafini, 2010
  Special mention in 2010

   

  ESSAYS ON THE CINEMA

  Il critic cinematografic furlan Mario Quargnolo, by Roberto Iacovissi, 2006
  2006 prizewinner

  Maria Zef. Un film sul e pal Friûl che nol plasê ai furlans, by Paola Iasci
  2008 prizewinner ex aequo

  Il cine di P.P. Pasolini: la lenghe scrite de realtât, by Roberto Iacovissi
  2008 prizewinner ex aequo

  Une ridade par simpri, by Francesco Della Mea, 2010
  2010 prizewinner

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