The Adriatic coast is gearing up for its annual feast of independent cinema with the 25th edition of the Bellaria Film Festival Anteprimadoc.
"Our festival was founded with a specific identity devoted to independent cinema, which according to me is best represented today by documentaries, and to promoting young filmmakers," said Fabrizio Grosoli, the director of the fest that takes place June 1-5.
Among the films being previewed this year at Bellaria Igea Marina, a town near Rimini, is In Memoriam, a documentary by Dutch director Jos De Putter about Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko was the former KGB agent poisoned by polonium in suspicious circumstances in London last year.
Another highlight will be the screening of Genova 01, the film version of a play of the same name by Italian writer and director Fausto Paravidino.
It is about the riots at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, in which 23-year-old protester Carlo Giuliani was killed by police.
There will also be a homage to pioneering American music documentary-maker D.A Pennebaker.
Pennebaker is coming to give talks about a series of his films being screened at the festival.
These include masterpieces like Don't Look Back, the story of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of Britain, and Monterey Pop, which is about the legendary pre-Woodstock festival starring artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who.
The festival has three competition sections.
The Casa Rossa Doc prize will be awarded to the best documentary of the year by a jury of cinema school students.
Contenders include Pasolini Prossimo Nostro Italia, a film about Pier Paolo Pasolini by Giuseppe Bertolucci - the younger brother of Bernardo Bertolucci - and Davide Ferrario's La Strada di Levi, which retraces the route Primo Levi took to reach Italy after being released from Auschwitz in 1945.
The Anteprimadoc section is dedicated to debut documentaries by young Italian talents.
The third competition, 150 secondi (150 seconds), is for films shot with mobile telephones.
There is also an out-of-competition section devoted to diary and family movies.
This features a number of works by France's Alain Cavalier and German director Marcus Vetter's portrait of his immigrant father - My Father the Turk.
French Director and Paris VIII University Professor Jean-Louis Comolli will give workshops to budding filmmakers too.
