Somewhere between "Easy Rider" and "Saturday Night Fever"...

The 14th edition of the upcoming Tertio Millennio Film Fest was presented on Wednesday at the Pontifical Council for Culture. The festival, that takes place from 7 to 12 December, is organized by the Italian Foundation for performing arts in collaboration with the Italian Bishops’ Conference and the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. Amongst those present to illustrate the initiative, were Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Theodore Mascarenhas from the Pontifical Council for Culture, and mons. Paul Tighe, Secetary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Linda Bordoni caught up with Monsignor Tighe who told her about the particular theme chosen this year.
"It is a theme that talks about the cross generational borders and examines how the different generations interact with one another." Because - mons. Tighe pointed out - many films can be seen to define a generation. "But what is a film that defines a generation?": it's a film which creates a certain amount of upset and anger. Because - he explained - very often what a film will do it will reflect a particular aspect of the contemporary youth culture; it will be made to shock and provoke, it will be strong and push boundaries as we expect from the younger generation. And although rightly an older generation will object towards language or imagery, will want to mark some critical aspects about it. And he makes the example of "Trainspotting". But one of the things we must do is to see the film as a way of reading into a generation. It help us to understand what their worries, their concerns, their hopes, their fears are. We must get over the deliberately shocking images and the film can help us to understand that generation. And as Church - Mons. Tighe said - we can learn not simply to judge films in moral terms or categorical terms, but on another level we must learn to watch the film as a priviledged way of learning about a generation and knowing how to respond to that generation. The festival programme therefore consists in an extraordinary mixture of films focusing on the changing ways of different generations, with a special spotight on Russia. The festival also foresees the awarding of a host of awards associated with different categories. One thing that has already leaked out, is that the prize going to the category of "music in film" will be awarded to the composer of the music in the Harry Potter films.
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