The 20th African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival (FCAAAL) will be held in Milan from 15th to 21st March 2010: this is now a historic rendezvous for fans of cinema from the South of the world and is the only festival in Italy wholly dedicated to presenting the films and cultures of African, Asian and Latin American countries.

The programme of the 20th African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival includes the now traditional two competitive sections - the Windows on the World competitions - open to fiction feature films (Eni Prize) anddocumentaries from Africa, Asia and Latin America (Regione Lombardia Prize) and two competitions exclusively for films from Africa: the Competition for the Best African film (Credito Artigiano) and the Competition for the Best Documentary and Fiction Short Films (Eni Prize)- this year brought together in a single section.

New this year: the collaboration with the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (27th January - 7th February 2010) for the national premiere of a selection of films from the "Where is Africa?" programme. It is the first time that an international festival of the calibre of Rotterdam has dedicated such a rich and innovative focus to Africa and we are delighted to be able to bring it to Italy.
The idea is the brainchild of Gertjan Zuilhof (the historic programmer of Rotterdam) who has said: "There's no other reason for having had this section now except that we should have done it before. It's obvious that Africa is not represented at international festivals except by the few films that are selected. The idea was to go to countries that are less represented and meet the local filmmakers."
The "Where is Africa?" programme will include new short and feature films from independent African cinema, in particular from English-speaking Africa and will also showcase the brand new series provocatively called Forget Africa, consisting of films commissioned by the Rotterdam Festival and shot in Africa by Asian and Western directors working with local directors. The directors were simply asked to travel in an African country of their choice and make a film based on their first impressions.

A selection of the African films from "Where is Africa?" will be showcased in Milan with a special focus on the whole of "Forget Africa" which will include films by Filipino filmmakers Khavn De la Cruz (on Cameroon), the Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui (on South Africa), the American directors Kimi Takesue (on Uganda) and Deborah Stratman (on Mali), the Indian American filmmaker Pia Sawhney (on Rwanda), the German director Uli Schuppel and artist Sherman Ong (on Tanzania), Beijing-resident Filipino director Joanna Arong Vasquez and Thai artist/director Jakrawal Nilthamrong (on Zambia), the Indonesian filmmaker Edwin (on Kenya), the American Kevin Jerome Everson (on Angola) and Austrian artist Ella Raidel (on Mozambique).

"Africa on the ball - Football and Cinema in Africa awaiting the World Cup": always with an eye on the strong issues emerging from Africa, and above all on the images it produces, with the 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa, the Festival has decided to dedicate a special focus on football in the continent. "Africa on the ball" will present the films and videos which in recent years have shown the intense and complex relationship between football and Africa, showing its most exciting and positive aspects (the strong value of social and national aggregation of the game of soccer); there will be room for women's football, but also to document more contradictory situations such as the trafficking of young African players dazzled by the dream of becoming great champions.

The non-competitive section of the Festival will pay special attention to Italian directors with the Extr'A section, presenting films addressing the three continents featured in the Festival and which deal with issues relative to immigration in Italy.

Espousing the slogan "Racism is a nasty story", the Festival will also take part in the campaign launched by laFeltrinelli bookshops on an increasingly topical and urgent issue, anti-racism, with a section of films inspired by this topic and a series of meetings and events.
This new collaboration between the FCAAAL and laFeltrinelli has given rise to the "Racism is a nasty story" Prize which joins the other prizes of the Festival and which will be awarded to the best film at the Festival dealing with the subject of racism.

Alongside the screenings in the cinemas, there are the events at the Festival Center, a meeting place/café for the Festival guests and public where various initiatives will be held: exhibitions and multi-disciplinary activities (dance, workshops on decoration, games…) inspired by the cultures of the three continents and, amongst this year's new features, the kids' room and film&bookcrossing, exchanges of addresses and travel experiences and images from the South of the world.

This year again, the films from the Festival will be shown in other Italian cities.

The Festival is supported by Ministero dei Beni e le attività culturali, Regione Lombardia, Provincia di Milano, Comune di Milano, Eni, Credito Artigiano,, CEI, Diocesi di Milano, Fondazione Cariplo, Cinema Rosetum, Centre culturel français de Milan, Cineteca Italiana, laFeltrinelli, La Gazzetta dello Sport e Viaggi Solidali.

Venues and dates of the event

The Festival will be held in Milan from 15th to 21st March 2010
The venues are:
Auditorium San Fedele
Spazio Oberdan
Cinema Gnomo
Cinema Rosetum
Centre culturel français de Milan
Feltrinelli Bookstores
Casello di Porta Venezia ovest - Casa del pane

All the films are subtitled electronically in Italian or have simultaneous Italian translation. The directors of the films in competition will be present.

Tickets and passes

SINGLE TICKET: EURO 5
PASS FOR ALL SCREENINGS: EURO 25 (euro 15 for students, over 65s and holders of Carta Più - Feltrinelli)