A major new festival has opened at the Casa del Cinema in the north of Rome, marking the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Held in the grounds of Villa Borghese from 1-7 December, the festival boasts over 80 films and documentaries from some 37 countries, above all those affected by drought and desertification.

All of the world's major deserts are represented: from the Sahara in Africa to the Gobi in China and Mongolia, from Death Valley in the USA to the Atacama in Chile. Whetting the audience's appetite in the foyer, the films are complemented by a photo exhibition by German photographer Michael Martin.

The films include recent releases and classics alike: Butterfly in the Wind (Iran, 2004), as well as Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (Italy/UK, 1990) Herzog's Lessons of Darkness (France/Germany/UK, 1992), and Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (USA, 1970).

Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australia, 2002) tells the story of three aboriginal girls who walk 1500 miles through the Western Australia desert to escape being 'trained' as domestic staff for white families. "We see the harsh beauty of the countryside as they do, not an alien landscape but as their back yard," commented one Australian film critic.

The documentaries on show include: An Inconvenient Truth (USA, 2006) - which follows the story of Al Gore's attempts to make the issue of global warming a recognised problem worldwide, Bushman's Secret (South Africa, 2006), Daughters of Sunshine (Iran, 2004) and The Architecture of Mud (USA/Yemen, 1999). Many of the films and documentaries are being screened in the presence of directors, enabling the audience to ask questions and gain personal insights.

Sahara with Michael Palin (UK, 2002) "reveals not the emptiness of endless sand dunes, but a huge and diverse range of cultures and landscapes and a long history of civilisation, trade, commerce and conquest stretching from the ancient Egyptians to the oil-rich Islamic republics of today," said the BBC.

The festival ultimately aims to celebrate the fragile beauty and rich cultural heritage of the world's deserts, while putting the serious challenge of desertification firmly on the international agenda.

WaluEurope,
4 December 2006