Sognielettrici, the festival of fantastic and science fiction, is back

Sognielettrici - Festival of Fantastic and Science Fiction - returns for its third edition in the Auditorium of IULM University from Monday, October 7 to Saturday, October 12, 2024.

Sognielettrici, organized and promoted by IULM University, under the artistic direction of IULM lecturer Stefano Locati, aims to investigate the concept of imagination starting from cinema, to extend to other arts such as literature, comics, video games, television and open to contaminations with new media and disciplines. The event, with free admission, will offer Italian premiere screenings, meetings with national and international guests and an international conference in a program full of surprises.

The feature film competition of Sognielettrici 2024 includes 11 new titles, five of which are directed by women and 10 of which are Italian premieres. Among the most anticipated are Nathan and David Zellner's Sasquatch Sunset, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough in prosthetic makeup, and Kourtney Roy's Kryptic, with Chloe Pirrie's monster. Yannis Veslemes' She Loved Blossoms More and Didier Konings' Heresy also explore mysterious creatures. Other works focus on female protagonists, such as Leticia Tonos's Aire, Teresa Sutherland's Lovely, Dark, and Deep, and Sebastian Perillo's Bionica, with themes ranging from the supernatural to dystopia.
Santiago Lozano Álvarez's I Saw Three Black Lights tackles folklore and paramilitary conflicts, while Kelsey Egan's The Fix, a South African filmmaker who was already a winner in the first edition of Sognielettrici, stands out for its mutant model protagonist.

The short film competition offers 21 titles from four continents, with 20 Italian premieres. Among them, the only Italian production is Francesco Mastroleo's Kalimera, a folk horror set in the Salento tradition. The short films are divided into three thematic tracks: Fanta-Relations, Fanta-Weird, and Fanta-Science.

Enriching the festival is a thematic retrospective, 1984: The Year of the Future, which traces the cinema of 1984, including Metropolis (Moroder's version), Terminator, Carpenter's Starman, and The Return of Godzilla. The retrospective will be introduced by IULM lecturers Rocco Moccagatta and Riccardo Caccia.
Numerous meetings will accompany the Sognielettrici screenings. Among the highlights will be the masterclass How to Build Worlds: Welcome to Morjegrad with writer Francesca Cavallero and the panel discussion Speculative Directors: The Elsewhere of Science Fiction, with Kelsey Egan and Leticia Tonos. Followed by Science fiction and feminism. A Shared Horizon, the result of a collaboration with the Stranimondi festival, with the participation of Nicoletta Vallorani, Laura Coci, Angelica De Palo and Silvio Sosio.

A large space is dedicated to comics with the panel Future Visions: the Italian anticipation comics between demons and aliens, featuring Antonio Serra (Nathan Never) and Gianmarco Fumasoli (Samuel Stern). Another not-to-be-missed event will be Voices of the Fantastic: Dubbing from Dragon Ball to Infinity, a meeting with renowned voice actors Gianluca Iacono and Emanuela Pacotto (respectively Vegeta and Bulma from Dragon Ball).

During the festival, the 70th anniversary of Godzilla will also be celebrated with an in-depth discussion led by Gojira Vangelist Omar Serafini of Fantascientificast and Gabriele Ferrari (aka Stanlio Kubrick from The 400 Kicks). Also, the panel Folk Horror: literature, cinema, video games will feature critic Cristina Resa, writer Maddalena Marcarini, and game designer Pietro Righi Riva.

Another new feature this year is the collaboration with Milan Games Week & Cartoomics 2024 , of which IULM University is a partner of excellence. The collaboration debuts with the meeting From Controller to Screen, which will explore the growing link between cinema and video games, with talks by Fabrizia Malgieri (IULM) and content creators Francesco Fossetti and Marco Mottura (RoundTwo). IULM students can enjoy a discounted (€16.00) ticket to Milan Games Week & Cartoonmics for the day on Nov. 22, 2024. Click here to purchase the discounted ticket or download the poster and frame the QR code to access the discount.

The closing ceremony will be held on Saturday, October 12 at 8 p.m.

The feature film jury, composed of cartoonist Silvia Califano, director Davide Gentile and voice actor and dubbing director Elisabetta Spinelli, and the short film jury, coordinated by lecturer Girolamo Gianneri with six IULM University students, will announce the winners of the third edition .

The screenings will be in the original language with Italian subtitles, the meetings will be in Italian or with possible consecutive translation, while the conference talks will be in English without translation.

Download here the programme

Sognielettrici is among the activities recognized for the Badge of Honour. To obtain the Badge of Honour, it is necessary to attend six events, of your choice (among meetings, screenings, conference) during the six days of the event.

For more information: https://sognielettrici.iulm.it