[Ischia, June 16th 2009] “Villa Amalia”, directed by Benoit Jacquot andstarring Isabelle Huppert , will be the opening film of the Ischia Film Festival7th edition, an international film competition dedicated to thelocation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFLBcTT_Hkc

The French film will be introduced as a national premiere the 5thof July in the evening, during the Festival opening gala, in the wonderful scenery of the Aragonese Castle, in Ischia Ponte.

Based on the homonymous novel by Pascal Quignard, “Villa Amalia” is the story of a woman who finds out that her partner cheated on her, she resolves to break with her past and decides to move from France to the island of Ischia, in a far away house absorbed into the nature. In the cast there are also Jean-HuguesAnglade, XavierBeauvois and the Italian actress Maya Sansa .

“It sounds like a splendid opening for the Ischia Film Festival”, commented the artistic director Michelangelo Messina, “a beautiful film, very touching, an absolute premiere for Italy, where the Ischia locations are shot in a surprising and never seen before way, they play a meaningful role in the story”.

Among the expected guests for the seventh edition, the Festival will have the Academy Award Sir Ken Adam, the director  Edoardo Winspeare, the actress Donatella Finocchiaro, Enrico Lo Verso,  Mattia Sbragia, Francesco Patierno, Andreas Eicher.

The complete Festival plan will be announced to the journalists the 25th of June at a press conference atthe Anica building, in Rome.

Placed under the High Patronage ofthe Italian Republic’s President, the Ischia Film Festival is organized by the Ischia Municipality in collaboration with the Campania Region, as part of one of thesix theme paths scheduled in the “Journey in the Creativity”.