'Reset' is this year's theme. What has changed in project films since the start of the pandemic?
We worked on the theme of restart understood as a rethinking of lifestyles, urban phenomena and consolidated design methods, adapting them to post-Covid-19 problems. And, observing the panorama of the directors' work and exploring the proposals, they noticed changes in focus. In fact, there are numerous issues related to urban planning, sustainability and the value of production processes. Interest in biographies and historical architecture is decreasing and is increasing for contemporaneity, living in cities. Nature is then increasingly present, to raise awareness of respect and dialogue. We talk about services, social housing experiments, shared creative activities, materials, circular economy. The debates are centered on the redevelopment of buildings or their impact in cities.
9 editions are much more than 9 simple years if you consider that in between there was the emergence of social media, streaming platforms and a pandemic. How has the industry changed since the first edition?
Home theater has also taken over due to lockdowns and restrictions on cinemas. And we too have had to adapt. Last year we had to imagine, in a very short time, a totally streaming festival. But, although it might seem like a limitation, it turned out to be an opportunity: the 8th edition of M DFF was followed by 12,000 unique users for 150,000 page views throughout Italy. This is why this year we decided to offer the same opportunity, integrating digital and physical, giving the opportunity to participate also to those who live outside Milan or to those who are now used to enjoying the cinema on their home screen. Surely all this in 2013 - when we started - we could not have foreseen it.
Between fiction and TV miniseries: how has the use of a film changed in 2021?
If before the use of a video content was linked to the cinema or a television event, today we can choose in time and space. Our preferences also interact with the productions themselves, especially for season series: it is the viewer's satisfaction that directs them. Streaming platforms also find it convenient to produce films that can also be transferred to theaters. An example is: 'It was the hand of God' by Paolo Sorrentino, in cinemas since November and on Netflix since December. The mini-series, on the other hand, can deepen content without arousing dependence on the story: in a few episodes they develop themes in a reasoned way. The 'Dinner Club' series, for example, uses the food-travelogue genre, linking it to the discovery of the territory, perhaps taking inspiration from the first wine-gastronomic reportage Rai of '57: 'Journey into the Po Valley', directed by Mario Soldati. Therefore, interest in the entertainment documentary genre seems to be growing, ranging from social to political issues. However, the vast offer also leads to disorientation: the Milan Design Film Festival has the function of organizing and guiding the viewer towards specific themes.
What are the current and collective needs that the MDFF cinema brings to the attention of the general public in 2021?
The documentaries show a common feeling towards political and social discontent, they satisfy a desire for analysis and understanding with respect to what happens around us and towards what we buy, be it an object or a house. They try to sensitize the community towards a beauty that is an ethical and planning synthesis linked to responsible and intelligent processes. In the past there were theories related to organic architecture, now, with the help of applied technologies, it is computational design that helps to achieve optimal harmony: thanks to the inclusion of the predictable variables of general impact on the territory to bioclimatic architecture.
In the last six months, our country has attracted international attention, including victories and podiums: what role does Italy play in the cinema sector today?
There is no doubt that a new Italian neorealism is emerging - Matteo Garrone (Dogman), Alice Rohrwacher (Lazzaro felice) the brothers Innocenzo (The land of enough and Favolacce), Yuri Ancarani (Atlantide) and many others - which tells the reality also employing non-professional actors. In the great tradition of Italian culture, cinema also manages to be contemporary, intelligently drawing inspiration from its past and defining a new, original and independent language. Perhaps this a new wave, with good reason, is attracting international interest and acclaim.
