At the beginning of the week our Nisimazine team observed how the festivaliers gradually populated the little town of Alba one by one. Tomorrow they will head home again, contented, their heads filled with moving images.


On this last festival day some of us are already speculating about next year’s edition, and the first bets are made on the opening film. Last year Alba di Gloria (1939) got selected, this year Alba Tragica (1939). Maybe next year it will be… Ritorno all’alba (1938)? Ritrovarsi all’alba (1954)?

The programmers of the festival seem to have an endless choice; around 70 movies have the word alba in their (Italian) title. If choosing the opening film based on its title remains a festival tradition, who knows, it might have an influence on the cinematographic market. The options to increase the chance of opening the next edition of the Alba Festival are right there. Translators could take a little more creative liberty in translating titles of foreign movies. Directors could let themselves get inspired by dawn settings… If 2009 brings along many movies with the word alba in their titles, we’ll know the cause.

The Nisimazine team has seen a lot of Alba/alba in the past week. Often we worked until alba, sometimes we got up at alba. But on this last festival night we’ll most likely all go…. al bar.

Gerniet Smit