The event in the Principality of Monaco that has been bringing together business and charity for over 20 years recently honoured the director and producer in Monte Carlo
Rosario Tronnolone – VaticanNews
Telling the story of the good that is done. This is the idea behind the Monaco Charity Film Festival, which has been held in Monte Carlo for 21 years and which this year awarded Lia Beltrami the prize for best producer and director. According to the award citation, she has for 35 years been “committed to promoting charity and brotherhood in cinema and in the world”, with “unwavering commitment” and “great artistic talent” that enables her to “touch hearts with kindness and determination”.
Lia Beltrami, first of all, what is the history of the Monaco Charity Film Festival?
It is a festival that brings together the business world centred in Monte Carlo with solidarity and brotherhood. It stems from an idea by Vicente Saragozza, who is one of the pillars of the Principality of Monaco. Born in the Philippines, he had been helped as a child in his native country, and when he became an adult, and later in the third stage of his life, he decided to give back all the good he had received through solidarity projects in the Philippines and, for the past twenty-one years, through this Festival. Because, as Pope Francis has told us many times, charity must be shared, it must be communicated; the time for silence is over: we must, just as you do with the radio, bring charity to the fore. And for this reason, Vicente Saragozza founded the Monaco Charity Film Festival, which is held every year in a very exclusive setting, bringing together people from different backgrounds and raising their awareness of the need to support those who lack access to basic necessities. And so cinema becomes a very important venue: screenings take place, there is discussion, and connections are made.
You presented three films this year, one of which was ‘L’uomo di polvere e sabbia’ (The Man of Dust and Sand), dedicated to the artist Marcello Silvestri, who recently passed away. What were the others?
“Sorelle Dayak”, which I produced and was directed by my daughter Marianna Beltrami, which chronicles a day in the life of the Dayak nuns in Borneo – the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret – who live in close harmony with creation. The documentary follows them in their daily activities, from when they take the boat to go shopping, to their work with the children. It is a delicately crafted portrait of these nuns who are also on the front line in defending the planet. The third film I produced, directed by an Iranian woman, Zoreh Zamani, a woman of immense talent, is titled “Numan”. It is a thirty-minute short film that Zoreh made in Iran, telling the story of a young woman, the goalkeeper of a women’s football team, who trains in secret along the beach. A homeless man living on the beach defends her from her boyfriend’s violence, and we later discover the story of this homeless man, who was, before her, the team’s goalkeeper. This is a film made in a very difficult context, and for me it is important to support the work of female directors in such complex settings. Three works that are apparently very different, yet all united by an attempt to portray the beauty of God in love for our brothers and sisters: this is the central theme of this hour-and-a-half screening that we were able to enjoy at the Monaco Charity Film Festival, alongside the photographs from the ‘Open Doors’ exhibition, produced in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication, which we presented a year ago at the Vatican, always with the aim of creating something that allows the viewer to open, through art, the door of the heart and begin to go ‘outwards’.
What did receiving an award such as “Best Producer and Director” mean to you?
It is a demanding and difficult job, which often faces many obstacles, so when something so beautiful happens, it gives a boost of confidence, not only to me and the people who work with me, such as my husband Alberto Beltrami, who was with me and who composes the film scores, but also, for example, to Zoreh Zamani. Imagine a female director living in Iran right now, who sees no hope for tomorrow: sharing this award with her becomes an important step, something that gives her a little courage. The same goes for Marcello Silvestri’s family, knowing that even in those places his powerful message is being heard and the strength of his painting is being felt. And sharing this award with the nuns of Borneo also becomes a way for us all to feel part of the human family. So I hope, after thirty-five years, that this award will give me the energy and passion to start new projects and see them through, because we have so many coming up, many of them created with you too, and ready to move forward. It’s a bit like filling up with petrol: every now and then you need to top up the car’s tank to continue on your journey.
