20° ShorTSIFF – Diary of 2 july 2019

If the boiling heat does not grant us respite, Eolo, God of the winds, grants us a little break; but his mischievous contribution still forces us to move the screenings to the Miela Theater.

Here the magic of cinema wins over everyone suffering due to weather: NESSUN DORMA by Paolo Strippoli is a nightmare in broad daylight between atavistic sceneries of stone and cathedrals from the southern country; almost reminiscent of the old horror: DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING (1973). Directed by the master of fears Lucio Fulci, that film restored an eerie pagan mass atmosphere … in the precious short film by Strippoli, a sort of motionless dream attacks everyone in a story where anxious questions have no answers.

THE STAINED CLUB comes from France and is directed by a collective of talented animation directors. It is an apologia for accepting oneself and one’s body; delicious in their unleashing of the “Star dust” style spots. We are touching on themes seen many times before, such as in PLEASANTVILLE, but made with original inventiveness.

VOICE by Takeshi Kushida provides a sort of prolonged oriental dance between an ordinary man and a female figure that perhaps exists only in the world of ghosts; the continuous fragmentation of human movements gives the film the value of a material in the making.

The German author Caroline Schwarz with her DOORS OF PERCEPTION not only alludes to the themes dear to writer Aldous Huxley but traverses her own life with a drawn character whose face we consider deeply and stir.

Science fiction for those that aim at introspection from the Spanish author Frankie De Leonardis in FLOATING, where a young astronaut finds himself surrounded by an ambivalent reality grappling with a paralysing dilemma.

Bullying and social media for FIFTEEN by Peiman Zekavat, adolescence, loss of privacy and the consequent existential pain seen through the eyes of a teenager.

The pool is a place that has always been dear to the cinema screen from the time of the famous namesake of the 1960s to the very sad THE GIRL OF THE PUBLIC BATH (1970). The Italian author Lorenzo Puntoni chooses a multilayered framework to fill his AQUARIUM which is noted for its accurate photographic/psychological game.

In THE BONY LADY by the couple Barbossa and Zanato, we witness the true story of Arely Vazquez, a transgender woman who became a leader of the Santa Muerte sect. Worship wrapped in mystery, a widespread phenomenon in Mexico that celebrates death and sacrifice.

We cross the Atlantic with TOO YOUNG FOR A MEMOIR by Case Jermigan, a journey into the avenue of memories that turns into a personal evolution for the protagonist.

Now let’s immerse ourselves in the cold currents of the thriller with a special work only seen through a simple cell phone: FOLLOWER by Jonathan Behr. We discover this is the author’s homage to a great classic of fear: WHEN CALLS A STRANGER from Fred Walton and its subsequent imitations.

After so many visual sensations an aroma arrives. The scent of saltiness that comes from the sea of Trieste while a young couple probably produces displays of affection: very romantic.

See you on Wednesday evening.

Riccardo Visitin

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