24H ShorTS Comics Marathon 2020

The fourth free entry contest for comic artists, in a brand-new hybrid version live from Trieste and online via video conferencing.

 For the fourth consecutive year cinema meets the comic strip at ShorTS International Film Festival 2020. The Trieste film festival this year is to be held online from 4 to 12 July and will repeat, also in this its 21^st year, the 24 Hours ShorTS Comics Marathon.

A free entry contest for artists of all ages who want to become involved in an actual art marathon during which, in just 24 hours, they have to produce a comic strip short of at least 4 inked and/or coloured boards. The winning comic strip will then be published and distributed free of charge, first on the social network of the festival and then on paper in a book with complimentary distribution.

The event this year is to be held in a brand new hybrid version live at the Casa del Cinema in Trieste, for a maximum of 10 participants, and online via video conferencing, where participants from all over Italy (up to a maximum of 20 people) can take part via the Web. The date with the Comics Marathon is for Friday 10 and Saturday 11 July at 4 pm at the Casa del Cinema in Trieste and online. Participation in the contest is free of charge and open to a maximum number of 10 participants live and 20 virtually, who can enrol via the event’s official website www.maremetraggio.com.

After big names such as Laura Scarpa, Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Sio, Giopota, Dr. Pira, Menotti and Ilaria Palleschi, this year there will again be a new and outstanding jury to judge the works, made up of art and film experts. Specifically, the 24 Hours ShorTS Comics Marathon jury for 2020 will be Trieste’s Mario Alberti, alongside Vittoria VicMac Macioci, Giulio Macaione and director Giancarlo Soldi, figures representing an actual link between the world of film and that of comics.

Mario Alberti is an artist, illustrator and screenwriter from Trieste. In 1993 he joined the staff of Nathan Never for Sergio Bonelli Editore. Since 2007 he has produced various covers for DC Comics, Marvel and IDW and in 2009 published for Marvel the miniseries Spider Man & X Men, later followed by Spider Man & The Fantastic Four. In 2009 he worked on issue 600 of Amazing Spider Man. In 2017 he designed the first album of the new series Bandasenzanima, spin-off of the Dragonero series by Luca Enoch and Stefano Vietti. Again with Vietti he produced the first album of the new Angie Digitwin series for Panini Comics. 2018 saw the issue of Tex – Cinnamon Wells with writing by Chuck Dixon and his participation in the Panini Angie Digitwin project, producing the artwork for the zero issue and the covers.

Vittoria VicMac Macioci, born in Rome in 1991, has worked on a character design themed anthology published by 3DTotal and on various projects in Italy, France and the USA. They include Gravure of Altrofumetto, Melagrana of Attaccapanni Press and Warm Blood written by Josh Tierney. She is the artist behind the French comic Gravity Level written by Lorenzo Palloni and published in Italy by Saldapress as Desolation Club. Alongside her work as artist she teaches character design at the international visual development school Idea Academy in Rome.

Giulio Macaione, born in Catania in 1983, made his debut in 2005 with the short Mortén, winner of the competition Otto tavole per Mondo Naif organised by Kappa Edizioni. Again with Kappa he published the graphic novels The Fag Hag and Innamorarsi a Milano, both to texts by Massimiliano De Giovanni. With Comma 22 he published Ofelia, also translated in France by Edition Physalis. With Renbooks he published I colori del vicino. In 2016 he published his first graphic novel for BAO Publishing, Basilicò. In 2018 he published his new graphic novel for BAO Publishing, Stella di mare. In the same year he produced for US publishers BOOM! Studios the graphic novel Alice from dream to dream, brought to Italy by BAO Publishing with the title Alice di sogno in sogno.

Winner of top-level international prizes such as the Industrial Film Award of New York and the Creative Film Award of Chicago, director Giancarlo Soldi made his debut behind the camera in 1992 with the film Nero written by Tiziano Sclavi and starring Sergio Castellitto, Chiara Caselli and Hugo Pratt. Always seeking out new idioms, in 1998 he made the series Alex, indagini su mondi segreti. In 2013 he filmed the documentary Come TEX Nessuno Mai, distributed by Sergio Bonelli Editore. In 2015 his documentary Nessuno Siamo Perfetti, about Tiziano Sclavi, obtained a special mention at the Nastri d’Argento. In 2016 it was the turn of Cinque mondi, documentary presented at the Festa del Cinema in Rome. In 2019 he made the docufilm Diabolik sono io, written with Mario Gomboli, and another documentary, Cercando Valentina. Il Mondo di Guido Crepax, an exploration of the visionary world of Guido Crepax and his most popular creation.