Introduzione
Milano Film Festival has chosen this year to dedicate a tribute to MIR Cinematografica, made up of several parts: the screening of some of the most significant films, among which the special screening Anima Mundi by Godfrey Reggio and Via Padova, Istruzioni per l'uso by Giulia Ciniselli and Anna Bernasconi, documentary included in the section Immigration Day Ð a workshop on production, and a production project to be implemented. The collaboration stems from the awareness of the exceptional position of the MIR in the Italian landscape, and of its fundamental role in Milanese production: Gianfilippo Pedote and Francesco Virga founded the production house in 2005 with the express purpose of supporting independent voices that explore and critique the most contraversial political, ethical and social issues both on a national and an international scale - with intelligence and depth, but also with an enviable lightness.

Programme
Here are the films selected for the 15th edition of Milano Film Festival.

	Divine by Chiara Brambilla, Italy, 2010, 52'
	Gladio: l'esercito segreto della Nato by Andread Pichler, Italy/UK, 2009, 52'
	Intervista al generale Maletti by Andrea Sceresini, Maria Elena Scandaliato, Nicola Palma , 2009, Italy, 25'
	Vogliamo anche le Rose by Alina Marazzi, Italy/Switzerland, 2007, 84'
	Lo zio Sem & il sogno bosniaco by Chiara Brambilla, Italy, 2008, 52'

What we believe at MIR cinema

Gianfilippo: We started with the presumption that we would all like to see the world in which we live improved. In this, we found ourselves in agreement with our partners Mir that film, documentary, and even television can play a significant role in our culture and society.
Francesco: Although this hasn´t prevented us from having animated discussions about the type of film that can best achieve this, and then in deciding which projects to work with.
G: Film ´fiction or documentary´ needs to be able to express the strength of a personal perspective of reality, provided that it is adopted by the author with a genuine feeling of belonging to a collective whole. Our job as producers is to nourish this feeling of ´citizenship´ from which can arise divisions, interpretations, opinions, strong connections...
F: It is a vision which hinges on the author and on an elite cinema, I think. You make reference to films which are fueled by public funding, and which are therefore don´t have to deal with the market, which you need to do in order to reach the public. We therefore need to steer the works of authors and directors in this direction, and here we find the producer who has the most influence.
G: The market is neither free nor neutral. It is controlled by multinationals who impose rules and influence the public. Those who don´t follow these rules always have less space. There is in cinema a strong subordination to television: films chase after TV and its arguments to the extent that the focus for cinema seems now to be always on themes. In this way we stand to lose the richness of perspectives and languages.
F: This is the reality: the community today is media-focused. The square and the television. The themes of general interest are those that find expression in TV and in other forms of mass-communication, even if they are commonplace. But this restores to cinema a specific purpose: to give depth and complexity back to media.
G: Thus cinema loses its character and becomes part of the chatter and noise of the media. We must instead reestablish the special relationship between cinema and the public, starting with the most curious and restless. We should oppose the monopolies of the market by recreating a community of enthisuasts (not just of cinema but of life, above all).
F: I don´t think that it is necessary to remake films that the cinema system is already making, but that we must explore the ´subconscious´ of the media monster that is the masses in order to extract its fantasies and expose them to view...
G: You delude yourself and submit to the seduction of the media...
F: You fail to understand and remain anchored to outdated ideas...

Gianfilippo Pedote e Francesco Virga