As always, cinema is one of the main protagonists of DIG Festival.
The Astra cinema will screen the best documentaries of reportage and investigative films from the last year, selected from over 400 submissions, in original version with Italian subtitles.
In competition are films made by major international media such as ARTE, Le Monde, BBC, Al Jazeera, TRT and ProPublicabut also many independent productions. We talk about war and conflict, recycling, climate change, activism and migration. A unique opportunity to get up close to stories and human voices often forgotten by the mainstream media, and to speak directly with the authors of these masterpieces.
Here you can browse the list of finalists for the DIG Awards 2024 and the projection calendar in the online programme.
Tickets for individual screenings can be purchased directly at the Astra cinema, at a cost of €5. In addition, the "Cinema Pass DIG 2024"which, at a cost of €25, will allow access to all screenings scheduled at the Cinema Astra. The Pass is discounted to €20 for those who can prove they have reached Modena by public transport, an initiative part of our commitment to sustainability.
For the first time, DIG is also at the Cinema Truffaut in Modena, with three screenings in the city's best-loved essay hall.
In addition to films in competition, DIG Festival 2024 also offers a rich programme of Extra titles out of competition. Here they are.
Off we go Thursday 19 September at 21:30 at the Cinema Astra with 'No Other Land', the revelation documentary of 2024 and a multiple award-winner at this year's Berlinale. The film, made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the region's darkest and most terrifying times, as an act of creative resistance to apartheid and a search for a path to equality and justice. Presenting the film will be Meron Rapoport, columnist of +927 and director of Local Call.
Friday 20 September at 10 e 30also at the Cinema Astra, matinee with "Rome Open City, a documentary that recounts the capital's many and ramified criminal infiltrations. Presenting the film will be Alberto Nerazzini, investigative journalist and President of DIG, author and documentary narrator, aired on La7, as part of the investigative programme '100 Minutes', co-hosted by Nerazzini with Corrado Formigli. The documentary comes to the cinema for the first time.
At 19, also at the Cinema Astra, is staged "Kim's Videoby David Redmon and Ashley Sabin. The documentary tells the story of a cult New York video store beloved of film buffs the world over, whose collection ended up in Salemi, Sicily. The authors start from this background to recount their search for the collection, buried in Salemi in neglect and oblivion. And its rescue, with the 'complicity' of many film masters. "Kim's Video won the DIG Pitch in 2021 and was presented at the Sundance festival in 2023. Presenting it will be producer Francesco Galavotti.
In parallel, also at 19 e 30, the Cinema Truffaut hosts the review 'From form to form dedicated to short animated films by Beatrice Pucci. Some of Pucci's major works will be screened, from her first short film "Appunti per un film sulla vecchiaia di Pinocchio" (2001) to her latest work, "Incandescenti" (a work in progress premiered here). The author will meet the audience at the end of the screening.
To follow, at 21 and also at the Sala Truffaut, will be screened 'Invelle', comic book film by Simone Massi which tells the story of three children, Zelinda, Assunta and Icaro, who lived through three different wars. Narrating the 40,000 hand-drawn frames that make up the film are the voices of, among others, Baliani, Celestini, Lo Cascio, Marcorè, Servillo and Timi.
Saturdayinstead, to the 17the Truffaut Hall, hosts "I Am a Human"by visual artist Salvatore Vitale who returns to Modena after his solo exhibition hosted by FMAV in 2022. Vitale's new work is part of his long-term project 'Death by GPS', which focuses on how automation technologies affect our lives, our work and our society. The film 'I Am a Human', in particular, explores the connections between protests, illegal mining practices, gig economy workers in South Africa and the various levels of labour exploitation associated with this industry. Presenting the film, Vitale and Philip Di Salvo, researcher and journalist and member of the DIG board.
Sunday 22 SeptemberInstead, we return to the Cinema Astra, with several Extra screenings. It starts at 4.30 p.m. with 'The Body Politic', a powerful documentary by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough which follows young, idealistic Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott into office, where he puts his personal and political future on the line to save his beloved city from violence. Like many other areas in the United States, the city of Baltimore has been affected by gun violence.
At 18 e 30instead, here 'The Procedure' of Luigi Montebellopresent in the room. 'The Procedure' explores the deep moral complexities and ambiguities surrounding the death penalty in the United States. With a precise focus on Texas - a state that has carried out over 580 executions since 1982 - the documentary offers a relentless look at one of the most divisive practices of American justice. The film seeks to understand the emotional and psychological repercussions for those directly involved in the administration and witnessing of lethal injections.
To close the festival, Sunday at 21also at the Cinema Astra, will be the "Two Views of Prisonswhich hosts two Italian documentaries on the reality of Italian penitentiary institutions. 'Welcome to jail' of Michele Rho and '11 Days' of Nicola Zambelli. The two directors will present their work in the hall and will also be present in the panel 'Abolish prison'scheduled before the screenings on Sunday 22 September at 4 p.m. in the Cortile del Leccio.
