AKTUALNOŚCI

Salve, Prison Movie! – Italian point of view on the penitentiary film festival. A festival that is incredibly popular in the country of Leonardo da Vinci, beautiful weather, lots of sights, tasty cuisine and high temperament.

A film festival is an event that can be considered in many aspects: cultural, social, educational, but also more specifically in the perspective of intercultural dialogue on the theme of the universality of content. Our Festival is undoubtedly a place with potential. Aspiring to be a platform for the exchange of experiences and a place to discuss socially important topics. We have the good fortune to bring together partners, specialists, institutions and associations, people who are committed to the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups, groups at risk of social marginalisation and counteracting discrimination. The polemic on such serious topics consequently serves to spread universal values. To the social proof of the equality of us all.

Any dialogue, even an intercultural one, presupposes the existence of a common language, or enables it to be formed. The Prison Movie Festival has become a dictionary whose purpose, as it was intended, is to support or facilitate and supplement knowledge about the broadly understood issue of deprivation of liberty. The festival in Olsztyn is a place where people meet, a celebration of a community of people. Freedom meets isolation here in dialogue. The creators of film productions, their protagonists, confront the problems of imprisonment and provide new knowledge about it, enriched with artistic impressions. Responding to the demands of the environment, special emphasis was placed on the needs of the audience.

In 2022. Amalia de Simone from Italy was the guest of the Prison Movie Festival. A lawyer by training, but above all an investigative journalist covering social issues. She has worked with RAI3, Corriere della Sera and Reuters. She has won many journalism awards and is the author of several essays on mafia infiltration in various European countries. In 2017, she was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by the President of Italy, Sergio Matarella, for her commitment to exposing criminal activities.

We are lucky that the Prison Movie Festival has the magical power of attraction. We are, like a good film complex. We guarantee good conversation, good coffee and good company, because we know that ‘good’ is what it’s all about. That’s how we make lasting friendships. …but that’s about it! With great steps we are approaching the formation of the programme for the next 12th edition of the International Film Festival in Olsztyn ‘Prison Movie’. More on this soon; in the meantime, and not without reason, let’s take a look at the Festival and its magic through the eyes of Amalia de Simone.


„I’m starting from the end. I learned a new word: Wolnosc. I repeated it on the stage of one of the most important philharmonics in Europe.

It is one of the most beautiful words. It is beautiful in all the languages of the world. Freedom means Liberta (note: in Italian, freedom). How did it go? It went like this: they played us the Mamela anthem. But above all, they played us Bella Ciao. Here you can understand what a gift to the soul it was to hear this dedication from the string quartet of the Olsztyn Philharmonic. After all, Poland is a country that has always had to fight invaders, and the Warmian-Masurian region in particular is the land of the great revolutionary that was Copernicus. I could feel this brave spirit, this passion and care for culture, music and truth every day of my stay in this beautiful country. In autumn, it welcomes you with the colourful breath of falling leaves, alive like a colourful blanket covering the earth. Red, yellow, all shades of green and orange. But this is not the most beautiful thing that has really stayed in my heart: the most beautiful are the people I have met.

I was invited to Poland by the organisers of the International Film Festival in Olsztyn, „Prison Movie”. This is a very prestigious and unique festival, as its brave Director Magdalena proudly says. It draws the world’s attention to the latter, those who are considered rejected by society because they have done something wrong, outcasts, bad guys, dogs and Cains. And he breaks through the wall of the prison universe, showing everyone what happens behind bars and how people survive and work.

It was a great thrill for me to be chosen, along with Assia, to bring „Caine”, my documentary filmed for Rai3-Rai Documentaries and its soundtrack there and out into the world. It was an extraordinary opportunity to speak twice to the students of the journalism department (Institute of Journalism and Social Communication at UWM in Olsztyn) about my work as a reporter and the stories of the women I met in Fuorni and Pozzuoli on radio, on television, in front of an audience of artists, cultural representatives, civil and military authorities, representatives of the Polish government, as well as Norway. The voices of Anna, Ciruzziello, Rosa, Bruna, Enza, Valentina, Giovanna, Antonella, Jessica, Caterina went far. We thank the girls for entrusting us with their stories.

I was very impressed that the organisers, people with an uncommon intelligence and sense of civilisation and freedom, chose, as the first clip of ‘Caine’, a part about a love story between two female prisoners. We managed to talk about many other things, so many that on the last day I woke up and didn’t speak to anyone for at least a few hours. There were moments, flowers and words that I keep to myself because I can’t describe them and because I don’t know if I deserve them. They were certainly deserved by Rita Romano and Monica Innamorato, Fuorni’s director and educator. I wish all my Caine’s could one day travel and carry their testimony live. And I wish them not only to find themselves again soon, but also to appreciate and preserve the essence of my new word: WOLNOSC.”