Milano Design Film Festival - 10th edition: The event is celebrating its 10 th anniversary with a special edition updated in its form and content, and the new Artistic Direction of Cristiana Perrella

Guest Curators: Emanuele Coccia, Bianca Felicori, India Mahdavi.

22 - 26 November 2022

Triennale #Milano, Anteo Palazzo del #cinema,

Cinema Teatro Edi, Tilane, biblioteca e centro culturale, Paderno Dugnano – Milan

www.Milanodesignfilmfestival.com

Milan, 28 July 2022. The Milano Design #film Festival is at its 10^th year and has been updated.

The face of the new #Event direction is Cristiana Perrella, critic and independent curator appointed Artistic Director, who in turn has chosen a team of Guest Curators to assist her in building part of the programme: the philosopher Emanuele Coccia, the architect, researcher and author Bianca Felicori and the Franco-Iranian architect and designer India Mahdavi.

Scheduled from 22 to 26 November 2022 is the kermesse that since 2013 has been telling the story of the most contemporary creations of design and architecture through videos in its various forms will take place in various locations of the city - from the centre to the outskirts – Triennale #Milano, Anteo Palazzo del #cinema, #cinema Teatro Edi/Barrio’s and Tilane, biblioteca e centro culturale. It is focussing on reaching a broader audience and on interpreting design from new perspectives.

“It is really important to know how to explain the world of design”, said Milan’s councillor in charge of Culture Tommaso Sacchi -. “Sometimes it is hard to sense the amount of intelligence and passion there is behind a single object, how much research goes into choosing a material, how much study goes into the use of a colour, how much attention is paid to the social implications of a design. This new edition of the #Milanodesignfilmfestival proves there is still lively curiosity in this world of teeming curiosity and leads us behind its scenes to tell us its story, its current Events and its key personalities”.

Beside its desire to make a name for itself as a design and architecture point of reference, defining itself and depicting itself in less traditional contexts - from the environment and sustainability to visual communication, information, interfaces and interactions, from food all the way to pharmacology and the world of mobility - MDFF22 places the purpose of triggering relationships with similar disciplines at the foundation of this renewal while strengthening its relationship with the main players of a sector that increasingly reflects the world’s profound transformations.

“Design is increasingly being construed as a discipline that surpasses aesthetic and functional questions to embrace social, political, moral and environmental issues.  It is a way of thinking that helps us understand the world in which we live and how we can live in it better, by outlining tangible and innovative solutions, but only if it is considered a well-pondered strategy of action and repair”, explained Cristiana Perrella. Through video, the new line of MDFF sets out to bring the public at large closer to this updated idea filled with design possibilities, by opening itself up to the experiments and voice of the new generations”.

In films, documentaries, shorts and feature films, animated films and stories of designers of yesteryear and today, the programme of the 10^th edition of the #Milano Design #film Festival tells the story of design not only through screenings, but also with round table discussions and talks open to the public in addition to a programme schedule of films streamed on #Milanodesignfilmfestival.com.

With its 10^th edition, the #festival has also changed its structure, which now comprises five sections: MDFF22 Official Selection with international films being premiered in Italy; IMMAGINARE (IMAGINE) supervised by the Guest Curators; AFA – Architecture #film Award; MDFF Student Award and the new section RADICI (ROOTS) with homage paid to Gae Aulenti.

In the MDFF22 Official Selection of international films, supervised by Cristiana Perrella, presentations will be made of films by designers and films on design by directors and artists.  Feature films, shorts, animated films, TV dramas and art videos will be selected by the Selection Committee through an international open call for which all the details are available on www.Milanodesignfilmfestival.com. Particular attention will be paid the best films of the latest editions of international festivals, and the recent and new productions capable of showing new visions of design in all its meanings and of investigating the language of moving image as an element of design research.

In the IMMAGINARE (IMAGINE) Section, the Guest Curators Emanuele Coccia, Bianca Felicori and India Mahdavi will each supervise preparation of a thematic exhibition. The three exhibitions will be dedicated to the analysis of contemporary and innovative themes related using materials coming from archives and new productions.

And back again in 2022 is once again AFA – Architecture #film Award, the international award of Architecture and #cinema organised in collaboration with the association of architects Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. of Milan and the foundation Fondazione dell’Ordine degli Architetti PPC of the Province of Milan, which selects films dedicated to architectural research. This section will present the ten award finalists and from this group a panel of international experts will choose the winners for two categories: Architecture’s films, which are films about stories of ancient, modern and contemporary architecture, and Studios’ films, audio-visual projects commissioned by architecture firms to promote their design activity. The winners will receive their awards during the final evening of the #festival.

Particularly strengthened in this edition are then the collaborations with Universities, Academies and Design Institutes with the goal of involving young people more and more. Proof of this initiative is one of the novelties of 2022: MDFF STUDENT AWARD, the award organised in collaboration with the largest secondary education institutions of Milan, with its dedicated section presenting the best short films (max. 90”) produced by students and received through an open call. Shown in several screenings during the #festival, alternating with the films of the major sections, the short films of the 20 top videomakers will be presented awards with the possibility for their authors to take part in a three-day workshop free of charge with international representatives of the word of design and #cinema.

Lastly, to underscore the intention of also making the #festival an occasion to study in-depth and make relevant historicized design and architecture personalities by making their work dialogue with the more topical practices, the new #festival section, RADICI (ROOTS), which pays homage to Gae Aulenti on the occasion of tenth anniversary of her death.  In collaboration with the foundation, Fondazione dell’Ordine degli Architetti PPC of the Province of Milan and the Gae Aulenti Archive, on the last day of the #festival MDFF will present at the location Tilane, biblioteca e centro culturale – a project designed by Aulenti that was opened in 2009 - the screening of a series of video materials supervised by Nina Artioli, who is in charge of the Gae Aulenti Archive and a talk to investigate her artistic legacy, read through the thoughts and experience of Nina Bassoli, Matilde Cassani, Emilia Giorgi and Sara Ricciardi.

Milano Design #film Festival has also confirmed the project MDFF Around The World, whose aim is to take the #festival and debate on design into new and ever broader international contests, and at the same time activate local synergies. Today, in fact, there are many collaborations with Italian Culture Institutions, Universities, the Design Weeks and various institutions, both public and private.

Finally, The Good Life Italia continues to support the Milano Design #film Festival in the capacity of Media Partner.

BIOGRAPHIES

Cristiana Perrella, art historian and curator, she has directed the Contemporary Art Centre Luigi Pecci, Prato (2018-2021) and previously the Contemporary Arts Programme of the British School at Rome (1998-2008).  She founded and supervised SACS - Sportello Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia for RISO, Contemporary Art Museum of Sicily, Palermo (2007-2009) and supervised the art and science project of Fondazione Marino Golinelli, Bologna (2009-2018). As independent curator, she has collaborated with Italian and international institutions, including MAXXI, Rome; IKSV, Istanbul; and Fondazione Prada, Milan. She teaches Management and Economics of Arts and Cultural Institutions in the two-year master degree course Theory and History of Arts and Image at San Raffaele University, Milan.

India Mahdavi is a Franco-Iranian architect and designer. Often called the “reigning queen of colour”, Mahdavi is above all known for her sensuous and vibrant interiors and her shapes infused with playful colour palettes. Her projects include Hotel du Cloitre in Arles, the Coburg Bar at the Connaught Hotel of London, the Monte Carlo Beach in Monaco, the Rivington Hotel in Manhattan and the Townhouse Hotel in Miami.

Emanuele Coccia is an Italian philosopher. In 2011, he began teaching at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris) and collaborates with Harvard University as a lecturer. His research shifts from theory of image and nature of living beings to fashion.

Bianca Felicori is an architect, researcher and author for Domus, Artribune, Elle Decor Italia and AD Italia. With a degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the Polytechnic of Milan, today she is researcher at UCLouvain of Brussels. Since 2019 she has been bringing forward her project Forgotten Architecture, a platform where forgotten and less well-known modern architecture around the world can be rediscovered. It will shortly be published by NERO.

LOCATIONS

Triennale #Milano, viale Emilio Alemagna, 6, 20121 Milan
Anteo Palazzo del #cinema, sala Excelsior Piazza Venticinque Aprile, 8, 20121 Milan
Cinema Teatro Edi/Barrio’s, Piazza Donne Partigiane, 20142 Milan

Tilane, biblioteca e centro culturale, Paderno Dugnano, Piazza della Divina Commedia, 3, 20037 Paderno Dugnano (MI)