ABOUT US
OUR HISTORY
“Pramana” cultural association was legally constituted in February 2021. Its mission is to generate a positive impact in our territory through the promotion of arts and culture.
The project was born from an idea of Simone, born and raised in Reggio Calabria. Like many Calabrians, at the age of 18 he moved to Milan to study, then to the Netherlands to work. One day, something drew him back and he decided to return to his homeland to work on cultural projects.
Back in Calabria, he wanted to create a festival right in his hometown. An Asian film festival, which he called by the Sanskrit term “Pramana.”
To make it, he worked together with two of his college classmates, whom he met in Milan and who had a strong connection to Asia: Haejee, who grew up between Taiwan and Korea, and Federica, who had studied in Tokyo.
So in 2022 we organized the first edition of Pramana with our own forces, which had a great response from the city.
With the second edition, the project grew, becoming a competitive festival, hosting international filmmakers and filling the hall of the Cine-Teatro Metropolitano of Reggio Calabria.
Pramana Asian Film Festival is now in its third edition and aspires to grow and become a landmark of new Eastern cinema in Southern Italy.
WHY IN CALABRIA?
We started this path because we want to organize our projects in the way we like it, proposing them to everybody. We are in love with cinema, music, visual arts, photography, architecture, cooking, linguistics, philosophy and nature.
We believe in culture as a form of social aggregation beyond any distinction. We don’t like to see elite events with any connection with the real world. We want to bring everybody together in front of the beauty of the world propose a model of a different society.
We started working in the Italian cultural world and we have touched the problems rooted in the system: the great “mainstream” cultural events of Southern Italy, in particular, are characterized by old age, self-referentiality, contamination with politics and neoliberal dynamics that seem to have civil society forgotten. An underground dimension is almost entirely missing, apart from some initiatives of resistant visionaries who carry out a real battle against the system.
We do not want to hide behind the mantra “in Calabria there is nothing” and follow all those who have gone away to study and work.
We respect the choice of those who left looking for a different life, but we strongly feel the necessity to be active in the territory to help making it thrive. We want to show to the world that Calabria is not only a place for rhetoric and pietism, but a land of unique opportunities, still partially uncontaminated by the logics of unconditioned progress and consumerism.
So we organized an event with an international scope in Reggio, involving professionals from the area, forging ties with Calabrian associations, festivals and film circles, and commissioning a sculptor from Reggio to create the awards, in order to grow our cultural capital and bring in investment.
OUR TEAM
Pramana is an open cultural association that collaborates with professionals from all over the world.
The operating team consists of four young people who are passionate about film and art, met during their university studies and now work professionally in organizing cultural events.
SIMONE COLISTRA – Founder and Artistic Director
Born and raised in Reggio Calabria, he graduated in Management for Arts, Culture and Events in Milan. After work experiences in Sweden and The Netherlands, he came back to Calabria to work as Production Coordinator for La Guarimba International Film Festival, where he and manages different cultural projects. He has collaborated as author for the online magazine Cinefacts.it.
FEDERICA BUCCHERI – Cultural Programming, Photographer
Born and raised in Sicily, she graduated from a MSc in Arts Management in Milan after completing her studies in Japan. After building her early career in events management in Italy, she moved to Paris, where she now lives and works as an Art Advisors for a French online art gallery. In her free time, she is an amateur photographer exploring the relationships between humans and architecture.
HAEJEE PARK – Cultural Programming
Born and raised across Asia, she studied business administration and art management in Boston and Milan. After working in the U.S., pacific, Europe, and Asia, she is committed to spread love through culture, starting from sharing her culture from Korea. Her other cultural endeavours can be found on her creative accounts @korea_orea and @anafi.thyme on Instagram.
GIORGIA MEGLIOLA – Project Manager
Born in Turin, based in Rome she works as Project Manager and consultant in participative, transformative and co-design processes and development of organizations and territories, working with cultural and creative realities. She graduated in Milan in Arts Management and Marketing for Creative Sectors, and in Cultural Tourism in Turin. She collaborated as PM in the 2023 edition of TEDxRoma.
COLLABORATORS
GIADA PUCCINELLI: Illustrator and architect from Reggio Calabria, she curates the festival’s graphics, posters and corporate image.
GIANLUCA ARIELLO: Communications and digital marketing designer based in the Netherlands, he designed Pramana’s logo and programmed this website.
NICOLA TRIPODI: Artist and sculptor from Reggio Calabria, he creates terracotta statues inspired by territiory folklore using traditional methods. Founder of the Arghillà – L’Arte delle Terre.
VALERIA WEERASINGHE
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