In Carbonia, the former mining town that has been searching for a new identity beyond its smokestacks for years, cinema becomes an opportunity for rebirth. Not just screens and screenings, but education, encounters, and a future. It's here that the Fondazione Umanitaria Sardegna and Ucca, in collaboration with the University of Cagliari and with the support of the Region, are launching a three-day event combining great international cinema with new university master's programs in audiovisual arts.
The initiative, funded by the regional Department of Cultural Heritage, accompanies the launch of three academic programs that will take shape in Carbonia : documentary direction and production, screenwriting, and management for cinema and audiovisual media.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, December 4th at the Fabbrica del Cinema with Stefano Obino, director and screenwriter with over twenty years of experience with Rai, Sky Arte, and international productions.
His masterclass, "Between Industry and Independence, Storytelling Without Borders," takes participants into the workshops of audiovisual storytelling: from large-scale productions to low-budget experiments, from working with artists like Capossela to stories born on the margins. A journey to understand how narrative is constructed in an ever-changing sector.
The official inauguration of the master's programs will take place on Friday, December 5th, again at the Fabbrica del Cinema, in the presence of Rector Francesco Mola and the Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage, Ilaria Portas.
Then, the spotlight will be on Ayman El Amir, the Egyptian director who won the Œil d'Or at the Cannes Film Critics' Week . His film "The Brink of Dreams," the story of a group of young women from Upper Egypt who, defying social and family pressures, form a theater company, will be screened and discussed with the audience, led by critic Francesco Giai Via.
In the evening, the screening will also reach Cagliari, at the Notorious Cinema, where El Amir will meet spectators in a second session open to the city.
On Saturday, December 6th, we return to the Notorious Cinema with War is Over, Obino's 2018 film dedicated to Iraqi Kurdistan. The film, a finalist for the Nastri d'Argento Awards, gives voice to children and families trying to rebuild their daily lives after the silence of war. The screening will be followed by a conversation between the director and critic Alice Sagrati.
The events are free and open to the public, but the scope of the event extends beyond the program. Councilor Ilaria Portas emphasizes that the new master's programs represent "a wonderful opportunity for young people in the sector" and "a strategic asset on the national and international scene."
Paolo Serra, director of the Società Umanitaria in Sardinia, emphasizes the social and economic value of the initiative: the master's programs, he says, "can be a concrete response to the talent drain and lack of qualified opportunities in the region, acting as catalysts for local development and innovation."