VENICE The Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award, a side event of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, was presented yesterday to Matt Dillon and Giorgio Diritti. The Sina Centurion Palace in Venice hosted the awards ceremony, which is being held for the twenty-second time and is dedicated to the fruitful relationship between the languages of cinema and art, born in 2001 by the great Calabrian artist Mimmo Rotella (Catanzaro, 1918 – Milan, 2006). ). The prestigious award was presented by Nicola Canal, President of the Mimmo Rotella Foundation, and Gianvito Casadonte, Artistic Director of the Prize, in an event organized in collaboration with Mic – Ministry of Culture, Calabrian Straordinaria, Calabrian Film Commission, Webgenesis and Brand Gb Spadafora. The award ceremony was also attended by the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Calabrian Film Commission, Anton Giulio Grande. The award was awarded to American actor and director Matt Dillon with the following motivation: “Over his long career, he has been able to combine the enormous talent and creativity of an actor and director with an always innate desire to open new horizons. An extraordinary combination that, as in the iconic works of Mimmo Rotella, has found in art the best expressive form to give free rein to the imagination. Artist Matt Dillon loves to use color between pop and expressionism to imbue the canvas with new meanings and content inspired by real life. An exceptional testament to the strong connection that unites cinema with the visual arts, and the true value of creativity that moves the world, breaking all conventions.” Dillon said he was honored to receive the award, emphasizing the influence that Rotella’s work, and decollage in particular, had on his filmmaking career. The Mimmo Rotella Foundation Prize was also awarded to Giorgio Diritti, “who, in his work behind the camera, manages to capture the reflections, anxieties and hopes of a life lived through the power of the image. Thus, cinema as a tool for observing and transforming reality through the director’s wise use of light and color as visual and communicative components. Exploring the deepest and most hidden corners of the human soul, Giorgio Diritti expresses the value of diversity, opposing all forms of discrimination and marginalization, exalting art as a lifeline on the path of history.” The director, who competed in Venice with his latest film Lubo, commented: “This award is an expression of how an artist addresses another artist, a magical thing that amazes me because my father loved to draw. Calabria is a territory that has always intrigued me, which I still consider healthy, full of nature and the truth of things on a cultural and visual level.” There is a rich list of protagonists who have received the Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award over the past few years. Among them: Oliver Stone, Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland, Mario Martone, Tony Servillo, Giuseppe Capotondi, Julian Schnabel, Willem Dafoe, George Clooney, Michael Caine, Ai Weiwei, Jude Law, Paolo Sorrentino, James Franco, Terry Gilliam, Al Pacino Johnny Depp, Alexander Sokurov, Berry Levinson, Joao Botelho, Julie Taymor, Takeshi Kitano, Abel Ferrara, Gianni Amelio, Peter Greenaway, Ascanio Celestini, Gian Alfonso Pacinotti and Olivier Assayas.
