At the “Villa degli Autori” from 6 to 8 PM, MIFF – Milan International Film Festival meets Venice to anticipate dates and news of its upcoming 8th edition. The event will be an opportunity to present various activities with NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti and The Actor’s Academy Milano a synergy with the Milanese kermesse.

Previous MIFF edition, held in Milan from the 22th of March to the 2nd of April 2007, has been a great success, provoking a new fresh interest from the press, the industry, the intellectuals and the audience; 77 titles, 10 worldwide premieres, 2 new categories of film introduced, more than 100 articles, daily on line, and 200 accredited press.

A super edition with a unique inaugural, such as the Italian premiere of 4 Minutes by Chris Kraus – later a Lola Award Winner in Germany as the Best Film and big Italian box office. Le Plus Beau Jour De Ma Vie by Julie Lipinski – Best Film and Screenwriting. Sherrybaby with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Yo soy la Juani by Bigas Luna with Veronica Echegui – awarded ex-aequo for the Best Acting Performance Female. Gli Arcangeli, by first time director Simone Scafidi, with Andrea Riva – Best Acting Performance Male). Centravanti Nato by Gian Claudio Guiducci – Best Documentary. And Fair Trade – Best Short Film. These are some of the titles awarded with the Leonardo’s Horse, already a Milanese symbol of the Independent Cinema worldwide.

www.miff.it

In 2007, MIFF started a publicity campaign in conjunction with Neurothon; “Movies that make your brain better”, to support the non-profit project “L’officina del cervello”, whose goal is the creation of a “bank of Staminal Human Brain Cells”. The first “NeuroAward” has been presented to Centravanti Nato by Gian Claudio Guiducci.

Life Achievement Award has been assigned to MARIO MONICELLI and a special commemoration was given to OSVALDO CAVANDOLI, the famous cartoonist recently deceased.

Two new categories;

• Trade Film, a competitive category dedicated to the corporate films (from small videos, to bigger company’s institutional filming).
• The Documentary Film Category, section already part of the competition program during the first edition and reinstated in 2007.

Among 2007’s new events was “Arthouse Readings” (in collaboration with Cinerentola) – an interesting way to experiment the cinematic potential of a script, where actors, often along with musicians, become the media to visualize a story.

For the seventh consecutive year, MIFF’s Best took place in Los Angeles (previous May 30 – June 1) and as always was a sold out event receiving a big deal of audience. With the same spirit and for the first time, September 13 and 14, 2007, MIFF arrives in Sardegna for MIFF’s Best Porto Cervo, framed in the incredible Costa Smeralda, and where the MIFF Winner 2007 films will be screened.

MIFF 8th edition will take place in Milan from the 3rd to the 14th of April, 2008.

The Application for the 8th edition is available on the website www.miff.it in the following categories: feature competition, shorts competition, documentary competition, trade films, features out of competition (MIXER), for art house films of all the genres.

The next edition is also guaranteed to see the growth in the importance of Corporate Films and special attention to Italian films and for the readings.

MIFF 2008 will see the continuation of the partnership with NABA for “the MIFF day in NABA”, where a series of short films made by the Academy’s students will be presented by MIFF.

The Life Achievement Award 2008 will be reconfirmed, as in the MIFF tradition, to an amazing International figure of the cinematographic world; in fact, the 8th Leonardo’s Horse Life Achievement Award will be honoring the famed actress Mariangela Melato.