The backdrop of the cathedral of Massa Marittima, the gentle scenery of the hills that drop down to the sea and photography in the foreground in the form of an exhibition and workshops for those who do it as a hobby and for those who work in the sector. The 16th edition of the Tuscany FotoFestival returns to the upper Maremma in Tuscany from 9 to 20 July 2008.

Managed by Franco Fontana, the Festival will host professionals of the calibre of Gabriele Rigon, Antonio Guccione, Roberto Rocchi, Francesco Cito, Adriana Soares and Giorgia Fiorio.

The Festival starts in Massa Marittima, where the most important events will take place, and will involve other charming villages in the area. For example, the exhibition entitled Le Palline sulle Colline (The Ball on the Hills), which refers to the tradition of an ancient ball game played in six small villages in the provinces of Grosseto and Siena and which displays old and new images, will take place in Ribolla di Roccastrada from 9 July to 2 August.

From 5 July to 3 August, there will be two exhibitions held at the Palazzo dell’Abbondanza in Massa Marittima: Hollywood Heroes, with a sub-heading Vintage Print 1950-70s, which portrays unforgettable leading actors in the images from the world’s most important photographic agencies, from Jane Birkin to Marlon Brando, from Charles Bronson to Marlene Dietrich, from Kirk Douglas to Jane Fonda, the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple and Katharine Hepburn and the staff of Stefano Parrini, industrial paintings, that wanted to represent “the cathedrals deconsecrated by the industrial process”, meaning the crumbling and decaying plants and their details that recount Italian history.

The various seminars recall Fashion and Faces by Antonio Gruccione and Creatività by Franco Fontana. The Tuscany Film Festival will also range from the theme of fashion photography and its similarities with portrait techniques to the fundamental question of photography and art, its re-invention, emotion, thought and fantasy.

Info on www.Tuscanyfotofestival.net/index.php