Cinema Mele Cinema Resiliente

Standing on top of a steep sandstone rock, Cinema Mele is facing the open sea in Calabria/Southern Italy. Built by Giuseppe Meles grandfather in the 1950s, this unique place became a vibrant gathering point for the village's inhabitants to dance on the balcony overlooking the ocean and watch movies and theater plays with the sea breeze stroking their backs.
Due to new safety regulations and rise of television, the cinema closed its doors in early 1990s, succumbing to the erosion of time, wind, salt, and rain. 20 years later, Giuseppe became the abandoned cinema's guardian.
Striving to preserve it from decay, he turned it into a space for encounter and art, into a garden, into a home, into a place which welcomes the nonsense. The cinema represents a tale of resistance. A heritage with differing interests among family members. A strange body in a city seeking mass tourism and a region where corruption is thriving. A metaphor for collectivity and hope as well as for loneliness and despair.

This experimental documentary tells the story of this place with its multiple identities from the very own perspective of the cinema itself and is an open process walking along with Giuseppe and the space into its unknown future.

Directors / Writers: Finnja Willner & Mora DeVincentis / Director of Photography: Finnja Willner / Archive Material: Giuseppe Mele / Editing: Finnja Willner / Music: Ramon Moro & Fausto Caricato

2023, Film in Production

PAST POLO FUTURE is a 70 minute documentary following Sarah (director) and Julia (cinematographer), two friends about 40. Not sure what their life plans could, should or must be now, the two set off in a silver Polo to visit four women from Sarah's childhood who were ready to tear it all down in the 80s. Hitting the road, the friends find the women in dachas, agencies and spa-towns. Conversations with them reveal their inspirational disobedience in the past. Their non-conformist attitude paved ways. But Julia and Sarah are surprised to find the women distancing themselves from each other with the same conviction that once made them rebels. The two filmmakers do also meet Sarah's childhood friends. As girls they all grew up living and playing in the same street. Sat on the ping pong table, over canned beer and chips they discuss what it means to be lifelonglife long friends. The sun is setting. The present is sweeter when you know about the past!

Year of release: 2022 / Length: 70 min.

Protagonists: Sybille Paar, Heidi, Annelies Steiner, Karin Hoffmann, Gerd Finke, Yasmin Fernandes, Lena Oberbäumer, Lisa Hoffmann

DRegie director: Sarah Paar /, Drehbuch Sscript: Sarah Paar & Julia J Geiß & Andi Pek ,/ CBildgestaltung cinematographer: Julia J Geiß BVK /, DMontage edit: Andi Pek / M, Musik music: Cornelius Miller /, Sounddesign: Birte Gerstenkorn /, Soundmix: Sven Jensen-Brakelmann /, Colorist: Sally Shamas / G, Grafik graphic artist: Slawek Michalt /, PFotografin photographer: Teresa Marenzi / T, Übersetzung translation: Diva De Agostino

Festivals:
11/2023 | Central Scotland Documentary Festival | Schottland
10/2023 | Something Like a Film Festival (SLFF) | Kathmandu
9/2023 | Sevil International Women’s Documentary Film Festival | Aserbaidschan
9/2023 | Garofano Rosso Film Festival | Italien
5/2023 | BEE Film Festival | Brazilien

Ossi Viola and Lo Selbo stake everything on one card: as ITACA, they make Italian pop music that no longer exists. Their dream: to play at the music festival in San Remo. With plenty of tailwind, they take their Italian tour to the next level. Once again, they fight it out amongst themselves. They spend their days at deserted motorway service stations and their evenings on small stages in deserted industrial areas. In these moments, the doubts become overwhelming. The decision to put all in one basket suddenly feels insane. The crisis becomes perfect when someone stumbles into their universe who doesn$apos;t belong there. When the dream threatens to burst, the adventure begins.

Cast: Ossi Viola: Albertine Sarges / Lo Selbo: Sebastian Eppner / Sunny (Sonja Blümel): Lea Willkowsky

Crew: Director: Johanna Behre / Screenplay: Johanna Behre, Hannah Schopf, Andi Pek / DoP:: Julia Geiß / Editing: Andi Pek / Producers: Johanna Behre, Laura Engelhardt / Sound: Leo Leyh / Assistant Director and Production Assistant: Jacques Sarges / Dramaturgical Consultant: Regina Weber / Assistant Editors: Philip Bell, Clara Andres / Music: ITACA, Tobias Feltes / Costume: Heike Hütt / Sound Design: Tobias Feltes / Mix: Mathias Wendt / Colour Grading: Yves Kokott / Graphics: Anne Vogt, Linda Süßmuth

Year of release: 2019 / Length: 93 min. / Distributed by: Filmokratie