There are just a few days left for the new edition of the Aquileia Film Festival to begin. The review dedicated to cinema and archology reaches its 15th edition this year and presents itself once again with a rich program of appointments from 1 to 8 August 2023

The square of the majestic basilica of the Patriarchs will be transformed into a natural stage on which documentaries of international productions will alternate, ranging from the dinosaur fossil market to the submerged mosaics of Baia, from the mystery of the hieroglyphics to the rock paintings of the Cosquer cave endangered by the change climate.

There will also be space dedicated to productions filmed in Friuli Venezia Giulia and to books, with the presentation of "Aquileia a guide" together with the author and the protagonists.

The program of the six evenings is very articulated. It starts on Tuesday 1st August with an evening event entirely dedicated to introducing the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the inscription of Aquileia in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the screening of the documentary film Regina Viarum. Via Appia nella storia, a 2023 production by RAI Cultura that traces the history of the nine hundred kilometer-long consular road that connects Rome to Brindisi and which was officially nominated to enter the 2023 Unesco World Heritage List. Following the screening, the trailer of Aquileia. Journey into beauty a documentary by Federico Cataldi and Keti Riccardi also produced by RAI Cultura which we will soon see on television. The second evening - Wednesday 2 August - will see the film The Ring of Grace brought to Piazza Capitolo which tells the story of the discovery in Monteleone di Spoleto in 1902 of the "golden cart", an Etruscan chariot unique in the world on which depicted the complete cycle of the life of the Homeric hero Achilles, a find that mysteriously disappeared to reappear in 1903 in a case in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The third evening - Thursday 3 August - will feature two films: the documentary produced by the Franco-German network ARTE The Champollion brothers. In the secret of hieroglyphics and followed by Baia, the submerged city a film dedicated to the story of the largest submerged archaeological site on the planet a few kilometers from Naples. Friday 4 August is the turn of the Cosquer cave. More than 35 meters under the sea, in the Calanchi National Park, hides the entrance to one of the greatest masterpieces of rock art: the Cosquer cave. Little known, as it is only accessible to divers, this incredible cave houses 27,000-year-old paintings. Today, however, it is threatened by rising waters. The film traces the incredible story of one of the most important painted caves in Europe. The festival appointments are also enriched by two off-topic evenings. A first, that of Monday 7 August, dedicated to the presentation of the new guide on the wonders of Aquileia, written by Elena Commessatti, published by the Odòs tourist bookshop, is a long travel story with four main sections - 'Portrait of the city', 'Visions of 'author', 'Slow walks', 'Best of'. Inside, the Top 5 places in the heart of Francesco Tullio Altan, inventor of the Pimpa, and his wife Mara Chaves, Sonia Bergamasco and Cesare Bocci, Luigi (Gigi) Delneri historic footballer and coach, and 5 polyglot, profound connoisseurs of Aquileia. Tuesday 8 August, the AFF concludes with a special evening with the screening of Le donne di Pasolini the docu-film directed by Eugenio Cappuccio and narrated by Giuseppe Battiston which reinterprets Pier Paolo Pasolini in an unprecedented and original way, through the most important figures in his life, his beloved mother Susanna Colussi, Maria Callas, Laura Betti, Oriana Fallaci and Giovanna Bemporad, starting from the Friulian territories where he grew up and from which he drew inspiration.