Luciano Ligabue is the star of 2018 BAFF

Luciano Ligabue will be the special guest of the 2018 BAFF (Busto Arsizio Film Festival) edition. One of the sacred monsters of the Italian rock of the latest 20 years will be on the stage of the Sociale theatre for the opening ceremony of the sixteenth edition where he will receive the prize for excellence. With him, in the evening of the 5^th May, there will be Domenico Procacci, film producer and successful talent scout.

 

 

The star of 2018 BAFF is Luciano Ligabue

 

“However, he won’t perform at all, not even one song,” says Steve Della Casa, director of the festival. “Anyway, he will be an important guest that will enrich the festival, already full of events, like the homage to Commissario Montalbano, Made in Italy Scuole, the collaboration with the Anteo cinema in Milan, the Short Cut contest with Carla Signoris as Jury Chairperson.”

 

The first guests of this edition have been, therefore, revealed during the press conference that took place, as usual, in Villa Calcaterra, where the cinema school is located. The other names should be revealed in the next press conference that will take place in Milan. The festival will last an entire week, from 5^th to 12^th May.

 

We have been waiting a long time to find out the news of this new edition, especially after the quarrels of the last months with the administration. If someone was thinking that the festival would be resized, they would be totally wrong. “We’re working to integrate the festival in the town because this is a festival linked to the territory that loves cinema and proves this with the cinema school, with the cineforums in the small movie theatres, with the film commission and with the agreements with the traders, which is just another proof of it.” says Alessandro Munari, the Chairman.

 

“There has been a great response from the traders in Busto with the shopkeepers that agreed on leaving the lights of the window shops on, after the closing time, and with the pubs that will remain open longer to create the night-life that generates the festival.” says Manuela Maffioli, Councillor for Culture.

 

The BAFF and the town of Busto Arsizio

 

Also, the Mayor reaffirmed the importance of the festival for the administration “This year as well, in spite of the financial difficulties, we have confirmed our contribution and we have also developed a formula to speed up the accounting and the collection of the contribution. We hope to do even better next year.”

 

The Fantasy manifesto

 

The presentation ceremony was attended also by Ivan Calcaterra from Busto, the designer of the manifesto and illustrator of Nathan Never, one of the most known fantasy comics in Italy. “It’s a homage to my town. There are the old and modern symbols like Santa Maria’s dome, the skyscraper and the chimney stack, which project holographic images, and on its top there is a camerawoman shooting the scene”, explained Calcaterra. This is a real fantasy manifesto.

 

The Made in Italy Scuole school contest

 

Paolo Castelli, teacher at ICMA, has presented briefly the films that will be projected for the students. “The theme of this year is travelling and the films that will be projected are all of high-quality and Italian. They deal with this theme in a direct and indirect way.” The titles are “Come un gatto in tangenziale” by Riccardo Milani, “La ragazza nella nebbia” by Donato Carrisi, “Ammore e Malavita” by Manetto Bros (that won many David di Donatello Awards), “Easy-Un viaggio facile” by Andrea Magnani, “Il padre d’Italia” by Fabio Mollo and “Tutto quello che vuoi” by Francesco Bruni.