Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
From the 20th to the 28th of September, during the 72nd Festival, in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, it will be possible to see the Violent Italy. Italian Crime Films cycle, a selection of between 20 and 25 films from a genre that provided an accurate portrayal of the country that even today still needs to be reexamined from a contemporary perspective. After surviving Fascism and the post-war period, the Italian crime film seemed to achieve its canonical form with the film by Pietro Germi, Un maledetto imbroglio / The Facts of Murder (1959), the first one that moved away from imitating French Noir to establish a model of its own that was to open up a genuine golden age for the genre. It was to evolve in sync with the politics and society of the country from then on: if the Italy of the economic boom shifted it to urban settings and reflected the early onset of organized crime and criminality, the May 1968 unrest, which was particularly vicious in Italy, meant that it would take a political turn thanks to directors like Francesco Rosi or Damiano Damiani.
The Golden Palm and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto / Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970) won seemed to mark the end of the genre, but far from it becoming ossified, this would open it up to new variations: if the orthodox crime film was to continue thanks to directors like Fernando Di Leo, mafia movies would take it along previously unknown paths. After winning the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián Festival, La polizia ringrazia / Execution Squad (Steno, 1971) would open up the potential of the poliziottesco, that reflected the turmoil caused by the emergence of terrorism depicted in accordance with the parameters established by the American generation of violence.
Retrospectives have been part of the identity of the San Sebastian Festival since practically its beginnings, when, in 1959, the first one was dedicated to René Clair. Throughout its history, the Festival has programmed both cycles around a figure of film, whether classic or contemporary, or has brought together a series of filmmakers around a topic, an era or a film language.
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