Interview with Emilio Della Chiesa, director of the River Film Festival RIFF in Padua.

For the first time, RIFF is coming to Cannes. What does it represent for you?

It was a kind of a gamble for us to present the River Film Festival in Cannes for the first time . Our festival is little and very original it has nothing to do with any other festival both in the way it was born, the way it is developing and its location choices. The name River comes precisely from the fact that we are actually on a river. A river that ferries stories, emotions always dedicated to the seventh art that is cinema.

What is the RIFF’s mission?

We create spin-offs. We created one in Basilicata in four mountain villages that are at risk of disappearing. Our mission is to establish ourselves where we believe that a cultural center can be a response to the critical situation, these places are experiencing and can be a concrete solution that can work. In the Portello area of Padua, it has actually worked. When we started, it was the most run-down and dangerous neighborhood in the city. Today, thanks in part to our festival, twenty years later, the cost per square meter of housing has risen from around $500 to $3,000. So we have created added value through culture. Therefore, we also invite institutions to pay more attention to cultural projects because culture is what we live on. We must thank the City of Padua for supporting us because we have no sponsors and we do not sell tickets. Ours is a free festival.

What will RIFF be like this year?

It will be fantastic. We will open the first ever audiovisual market dedicated on short film in the Veneto region and also an attempt to delve into techonological innovation, for example on what AI means in the world of cinema and we want to delve into it with authors who do research and have already won international awards like Ben Seide author of the special effects of the Throne of Swords. We also create in-depth panels, because a festival is not only promotion of Cinema but also a time to meet, to relate, to promote the territory. RIFF not only promotes cinema but also produces its own cinema. We produced Giotto Byond borders, film shot totally in “immersive virtual reality,” awarded at the “St. Petersburg Film festival,” which already won 16 international awards. We are about to produce a film on Pietro d’Abano and the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua in September. Our presence in Cannes was focused on being able to network and be able to engage producers interested in our business, and we seem to be succeeding.

Henry Borzi