The Thing(1982) by John Carpenter and Le Couperet (The Ax, 2005) by Costa-Gavras are the two filmsthat have been chosen to mark the run-up to the 43rd edition of the Efebo d’Oro Prize. They will be shown on the 15th and 29th October respectively at 9:00 pm at the De Seta Cinema of Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa. The films, by two deeply different directors who have both become part of the history of cinema, are the perfect preparation for the rich schedule the festival will offer from 14th to 20th November finally in a cinema, where it will be back thanks to its organisers’ dedication.

Friday, 15th October at 9:00 pm, The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter
To make ‘The Thing’, a sci-fi horror film and a remake of ‘The thing from another world’ directed in 1951 by Christian Nyby and based on a novel by John Campbell, John Carpenter remained closer to the original story than his predecessor and the resulting film had an extraordinary impact. He usually wrote the music for his films by himself (or with the collaboration of Alan Howarth) and after having completed the editing of the film ‘Halloween’, he even declared he wrote the music to save a film. Yet, for the first and only time, he had no hesitation to rely on a music genius such as Ennio Morricone for the soundtrack. The result is a mix between Carpenter’s pounding repetitiveness and the dramatic and insinuating orchestration of the Maestro, who succeeded in livening up the right amount of suspense and that sense of incumbent danger Carpenter would use again in two of his following films, namely ‘They Live’ (1988) and the remake of ‘Village of the Damned’ (1995). The screening will pay a special tribute to the prominent musician Ennio Morricone.

Friday 29th October at 9.00 pm, Le Couperet (The Ax, 1982)
The film will kick off the retrospective the festival dedicates to Costa-Gavras, an author who in his research, from the mid-1960s to present, has been following a path that has taken him to deal with uncomfortable and challenging themes, without fearing the attacks that he has often been object of and with his sharp eye constantly on the public.
Le Couperet means the axe, which explains the Italian title hinting at the protagonist’s choice to get rid of his adversaries after one of those ‘corporate reorganisations’ we have become familiar with due to neoliberalism.
Based on the novel by the U.S. author Donald Westlake, who seems to have included here the features of a humorous ‘polar’ he had already tested in other works, it clearly represents the extraordinary work Costas-Gavras did, together with Jean-Claude Grumberg, to adapt it for the big screen.
On Sunday, 14th November, Costa-Gavras will be given the Efebo d’Oro – Banca Popolare Sant’Angelo for Life Achievements.