This is it, diggers. Here are the first announcements from the DIG Festival 2022: 'Stay Gold'..
There will also be Sergei Loznitsa, legendary Ukrainian filmmaker awarded at IDFA and the Cannes Film Festival, among the protagonists of the new edition of DIG Festival, from 22 to 25 September in Modenacharacterised by an international programme with more than 80 events including meetings, workshops, film premieres, art and music.
It starts on Thursday 22 September with the opening of the solo exhibition of the acclaimed artist Gabriella Giandelli, author of the 2022 edition Watchdog, the 'watchdog' symbol of investigative journalism and of each edition of DIG. To follow, the inaugural lecture by Maria Nadotti, intellectual, essayist and translator, will officially open the Festival in the setting of the Church of San Carlo.
During "DIG Festival 2022: Stay Gold". will talk about conflicts, propaganda and journalismof the major crises of our time, of technological authoritarianism. An edition dedicated to the memory of Matteo Scanni - founder of DIG, journalist, documentary filmmaker, long-time director of the School of Journalism at the Catholic University - prematurely passed away on 27 January: Stay Gold, "remains golden'was in fact the invitation with which he liked to urge young journalists to remain incorruptible and to continue seeking the truth without compromise.
Prominent guests include the Danish investigative documentary filmmaker Mads Brüggera true icon of undercover journalism; the Irish reporter Sally Haydenwinner of the Orwell Prize 2022 with her My Fourth Time, We Drowned, on human trafficking in Libya; Avi Mograbithe documentary filmmaker whose work has best chronicled Israel's occupation policy in the Gaza Strip.
Leading figures from several key players in the most innovative investigative journalism will also be present: Bellingcat and Forensic Architecturewho, with their investigative techniques, have been able to uncover abuses and war crimes in conflict zones, most recently also in the Ukrainian context. The NGO Privacy International will instead enrich the DIG programme with reflections on the authoritarian use of technology against journalism and migrants.
DIG is also cinema and great documentariesfor four days in the halls of the historic Cinema Astra finalist films in the five categories of the DIG Awards, in the presence of the authors who will arrive in Modena from all over the world. In addition to the titles in competition, the Festival presents, as it does every year, a rich section of extra films: the reviews dedicated to the work of Loznitsa, Mograbi and Brügger stand out.
As always, the Festival will also host sessions of the DIG Academy, through which DIG offers 12 free advanced training workshops, open to all and accredited by the Ordine dei Giornalisti, hosted in the Complesso San Paolo and in the Law Department of the University of Modena.
During DIG Festival, the international prizes of the DIG Awards - the competition that attracted record participation this year, with over 400 entries from all over the world. Prizes will be awarded by the international jury of DIG, on which sit writers and producers from the world's leading brands of investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking, including Al Jazeera, Arte, SVT, BBC and Fremantle.
More and more space will be given to the category audiowith a jury of highly prestigious members including Susanne Reber and Matteo Cacciawho will also be the protagonists of panels dedicated to podcast.
"Since 2015, what makes the DIG Festival unique is its focus on deepening and contamination, on free and oblique gazes, on sharing knowledge through dozens of meetings, exclusive film reviews, advanced training workshops, and original artistic and cultural events," says Alberto Nerazzini, investigative journalist and President of DIG. "DIG confirms its support for investigative journalism and the growth of its large community made up of authors, journalists and citizens who are not satisfied and want to be gold, i.e. aware, informed, free and incorruptible, just as exhorted by Matteo Scanni, co-founder and president, fraternal friend and fellow traveller who left us too soon, without leaving us alone. The necessary and ambitious programme of the eighth edition is obviously dedicated to him'.
'DIG Festival represents one of the most important events in the cultural scene in Modena and beyond,' comments Andrea Bortolamasi, Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Modena, a city that has strongly supported the project since 2020 together with its Foundation and the Emilia Romagna Region. "DIG is courage, participation, civil commitment: we want to ensure that it grows and develops more and more in Modena, which is now the city of festivals".
DIG Festival is an independent event. Funding comes almost exclusively from public bodies: in 2022, from the Emilia-Romagna Region and Film Commission ER, the Municipality of Modena and the Modena Foundation. Also supporting DIG are Google News Initiative, Fondazione e Ordine Giornalisti Emilia-Romagna, Aser, Coop Alleanza 3.0. Among the main partners are Fondazione Collegio San Carlo, Unimore, DHIALOGUE, FEM (Future Education Modena) and Festivalfilosofia, joined by Finpro and Librerie Coop, Bunker, Tintoria Emiliana, Galleria D406, Squadro Stamperia Galleria d'Arte, Cinema Astra, Juta Cafè, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Fondazione Moleskine, Sartoria Comunicazione, Vibra Club, Tema Service and Autorama.
