(SIGNIS North America). At the 2022 Washington DC International Film Festival (Filmfest DC), the SIGNIS Prize was awarded to the film The Right to Happiness (Il diritto alla felicità), written and directed by Claudio Rossi Missimi (Italy, 2021).
The heart of this gentle fable, told with cinematic skill and good humor, is a small used bookstore in a small town in Italy. Writer-director Claudio Rossi Massimi skillfully characterizes an elderly proprietor, Libero, who welcomes all customers with dignity and humanity no matter their politics, eccentricities or income. Especially in his mentoring of a young immigrant from Burkino Faso, he (and the film) celebrates the world of the mind and the centrality of culture in making life worth living.
The 2022 SIGNIS Filmfest DC jury members were Frank Frost, Mary Frost, Robert Kanner.
The festival in 2022 was a hybrid affair, with some films in theaters, some only on streaming. The jury worked virtually, with access to all films.
For more information about the festival, visit www.filmfestdc.org.