Festival du Film de Lama – Corsica

This is a film festival that is initiated by a group of villagers who are passionate about films and film making. This wonderful celebration took shape in the beautiful mountain village of Lama in Balagne in upper Corsica. The organizers called themselves the Association of Lama Film Festival. They started the event to promote the rurality in film industry. The village of Lama is exceedingly blessed with scenic beauty. The buildings of the village are built into the sides of the mountain and the delta Ostioconi which spreads itself below and the wonderful beach beyond makes it a heaven on earth. It offers the tourists a rendezvous with peace and tranquility enhanced by natural beauty.

The nonprofit Association of Lama Film Festival aims at organizing a comprehensive film festival in which films of all categories will be screened. Most of the countries belonging to the European Union take part in the festival. The Festival du Film de Lama is organized at the tail end of summer every year. The event of 2015 will take place from 1^st to 7^th August.

The festival is conducted at three open-air venues and two indoor spaces in the village. All the three open-air sessions will be conducted simultaneously from 9.30 pm. ‘The Pool’ is the main and the largest of the three. It can seat 700 viewers at a time. The venue is in the beautiful country side. The surroundings of the same present a great natural ambience.

‘The Ombria’ is a smaller square surrounded by houses. It can seat 150 viewers. Usually the venue is used for projecting short films. The houses on all sides of the space give it a very compact and homely atmosphere. ‘The Mercatu’ is yet another small venue which can accommodate 100 viewers. This place is situated in a beautiful place in the middle of the village.

Besides the screening venues, the festival includes the Town hall at Casa di Lama and ‘The Stallo’. Documentaries are screened in the town hall and it is also used for dining and other festival related activities. The Stallo is a renovated old stable where symposiums and other meetings are conducted. Many important film personnel including directors and other film professionals make use of this opportunity to exchange their ideas and discuss further improvements of the industry.

The films that are chosen to be screened in the festival would gratify film buffs of all ages. All categories of films, including children’s films, are projected during this film week. Apart from that, the younger generation is offered a number of workshops on film making and other technicalities and professional aspects of the film industry. Thus the future film professionals and legends are molded at the Festival du Film de Lama.

Many films of top class film makers find place in the festival. Some of these films are world premiers. But this film festival is not all film screening and film viewing. It presents numerous diverse art exhibitions and musical concerts as well as academic meetings and conferences that are aimed at sensitizing the participants about various aspects of film making. In short, The Festival du Film de Lama is a cinema week which you cannot afford to miss, if you are interested in any aspect of the industry.

by Marina Chernyak