THE DISCOVERY OF THE IMPORTANCE AND NEEDS OF CREATING A BRIDGE BETWEEN WESTERN CULTURE AND ISLAMIC CULTURE
The sun and the moon come together in the skies of Palermo, giving birth to the first targeted documentary review on the relationship between East and West, an issue which today is more pressing, controversial, and simulating than ever.

Doc Fest thus launches Sole e Luna Doc Fest, a festival which tackles the social documentary, as well as the anthropological and the religious ones comparing, juxtaposing and combining them in a panoramic spectrum, truthful through its own multiplicity. The Orient, the West, and the Mediterranean know each other too well to openly reveal themselves, too little to elude and pretend, but sufficiently to flirt, dialogue, and spar together. And it is here that we bring dialogue back to where it started, back to where everything started, on these shores, on this sea where the known world was born, as well as all the unknown worlds and each one of their fathomable legends and tales. I thus leave the Sole e Luna Doc Fest, its varied and unpredictable contents, and its hometown Palermo, once Christian, once Arabic, once Mediterranean and European, to their destiny of rediscovering the oneness of the vast sky above, finnally allowing the busy ants below it to remember what it is like to look at one another, and smile.

Rubino Rubini

A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES
A bridge of knowledge, a dialogue through images, a means of comparison and exchange, a research of common roots through differences, a means to demolish stereotypes and incomprehension, a true mirror of a reality known to few but that interests many who wish to know more; this is what is going to be proposed by "Sole e Luna Doc Fest", International Documentary Film Festival on the Mediterranean and Islamic cultures.Due to the many cultural-integrative difficulties registered in many places both in Italy and throughout the entire world,   it is clear that high-browed discussions in the closed intelligentia circles only reaches the attention of a reduced and elite audience. On one hand, we feel that a wider diffusion of "knowledge through audiovisuals" seems the most powerful method of reaching more people, on the other hand, we believe that the use of such a device should be intended to giving positive examples to the young generations, to our children, to students, to those who will represent our future, whom we firmly hope will be a more informed, more willing, more active and proactive society than ours.
The contacts we have formed with the most excelling centers of Islamic Studies, such as the Instut du Monde Arabe of Paris and the cultural associations which involve activities of cultural exchange such as the Barenboim-Said Foundation, made us understand how important and relevant it was to sew together collaborations between these initiatives in order to construct a real international network, transforming each individual effort into a real synergy.
From our very first edition, accomplished with the support of the Ministero degli Affari Esteri, General Bureau for the Countries of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, we had organized a formation course for 15 young Iraqi film professionals. A very successful first program which we will develop further in the future, with new forms and themes. We are already collaborating with various universities and Institutes of art, music and cinematography, as well as with the foreign Italian Institutes of Culture and with the Embassies of various Islamic countries.
Furthermore, we give great importance to the collaboration between industry and culture; Italy is a world leader in the field of large-scale construction, representing its innate ability to create man-made bridges which can cross all boundaries, from North to South, East to West, within and beyond the Mediterranean.

Lucia Gotti Venturato

FESTIVAL PROJECT
The third edition of the Festival is going to occur in the marvelous settings of Santa Maria dello Spasimo and the Oratorio dei Bianchi.
The documentary Festival "Sole e Luna" Doc Fest is set as an international competition on the theme of the Mediterranean, Islam, the cultures and traditions of the near and far East.
"Sole e Luna" Doc Fest is a means of quality communication that finds its own strengths in the structure-strategy of its image, which combined with its own innovative initiatives and events will be able to communicate a true effort to reach out to other countries, thus finding a self-renewing efficacy, year by year, appealing to an ever greater public, and an ever greater cultural value.
"Sole e Luna " Doc Fest is placed in this breathtaking space, secluded from the hundreds of festivals organized every year in Italy, a space which is unique and special, in which one can find documentaries and films which are just as amazing and unique themselves. These are not dull films, they have an entertaining quality to them which is always of great appeal to the public, because of the themes which are analyzed, the quality of the projects and the infinite variety of subjects presented. Who really truly knows all the populations, the customs, traditions and the arts of the countries that surround the Mediterranean? Who does not feel the need to deepen their knowledge of the Muslim world, which everyone talks so much about, and which everyone wants, for an infinity of different reasons, to understand?
The passed editions of this Festival have brought it to reach an international position of importance in the sphere of documentary festivals, and programmed repetitions of screenings and events have already been scheduled, as well as reviews in schools, Universities and Institutes of Culture in Italy and abroad.
The new edition of the Festival will starts on the 20th of July and will end on the 27th of July 2008, culminating with the award night. Every night, the most excelling films will be presented and commended by eminent personalities representing the world of culture, science and entertainment, invited by "Sole e Luna" Doc Fest.
This will be complemented by shows, exhibitions, and partnerships with festivals of other European countries, as well as workshops and training courses which will enrich "Sole e Luna" Doc Fest of quality contents and experiences of cultural exchange.
The Films that are in competition will become a permanent part of the film archive of "Sole e Luna" Doc Fest, that soon will become a national and international point of reference for students and scholars, because of the great success of the first edition, and the many requests for a database for additional viewing. In the call for entries there is the possibility, for the Region and the host City, to use audiovisual materials for non-profit exhibitions and reviews in all the regional territories. A master DVD of all the submitted copies, subtitled in English or in Italian, will be produced to consent the preservation and archiving.

The entrance to all the projections will be free.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The festival   has two award categories:

ISLAM
This section includes the most important international production in the last 5 years dealing with Islam. Documentaries, TV series, surveys, documentaries on scientific, ethnographic and socio-cultural researches about customs and traditions of any country/area in the world are accepted, with a focus on Muslim countries. Tourist documentaries and reportages on journeys, adventure and nature are also accepted.

MEDITERRANEAN
This section includes the most important international production in the last 5 years dealing with the sea and the Mediterranean coast: fauna, flora and sea ecosystems; as well as stories of sea voyages, journeys to the Mediterranean countries, their costumes, traditions, cultures, civilizations, including Surveys, reportages, studies dealing with the Mediterranean Sea and landscape of the coast, in their whole and broad acception.

It is mandatory for all the films to be produced from 2003 on.

AWARDS

1st Overall Prize For Best Work In Competition
1st Prize For The   Category On Islam
1st Prize For The   Category On   Mediterranean
Prize for the best Direction
Prize For Best Photography
Prize For Best   Editing
Prize For Most Innovative Documentary
Prize For Highest Cultural Value