Italy and the United States might be separated by an ocean, but cinema bridges them together. On June 3, 2010, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU [2] will be hosting the presentation of this year's Senza Frontiere / Without Borders Film Festival [3]. The three-day long festival, which has reached its third edition, will take place in Rome beginning on July 7. It is an annual not-for-profit event committed to show and discuss films that embrace a common humanity among people.


This year's focus is on water: Irena Salina's Flow is about its privatization; Why is Water Important? is a photo essay made by children under the guidance of artist Joy Episalla; Closely linked to the subject of water, global warming is the unwanted protagonist of Sun Come Up, about an island's disappearance into the ocean, the displacement of its people and the loss of their culture.

 

These are just three of the many films highlighting the 2010 edition of the festival, which offers all kinds of genres: feature-lengths, documentaries, shorts and animation. According to the organizers, the inspiration for the festival was a documentary by Paul Smaczny, Knowledge is the Beginning, about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim, which is made up of students from countries at war with each other, but whose personal views and desires regarding the Middle East are quite different from the reality they live in.

 

Presenting and discussing this year's festival at NYU will be Carroll Bogert (Human Rights Watch [4]Deputy Director), Mariam Said (Vice-President of the Barenboim-Said Foundation [5]), Jordi Torrent from the UN Alliance of Civilizations [6], director Mahreen Jabbar and artist Joy Episalla, coordinated by Fiamma Arditi, founder and co-director of the festival.