ShorTS Development & Pitching Training for short film projects
We’ve mentioned for previous Development & Pitching Training projects how the core of their education and programming lies in teaching participants to really know how to tell a story with effective brevity: how it is narrated, the importance that story has for those who narrate it and what it can have for those who listen to it. In this work process we are definitely more than satisfied with the results obtained in further expanding the excellent Pitching Training initiative through the addition of work on development of the story itself. ShorTS Development & Pitching Training has thus turned into a kind of workshop where stories are created and shared. The eight projects selected this year work both collectively and individually in the first development phase, followed by joint training in preparation for pitching as a professional tool for communicating a personal short story project to a jury of three experts in the industry. After that, two projects are to be chosen by the jury and invited to participate in the final days of ShorTS, offering various international networking opportunities. We have seen how this work, dedicated to filmmakers from Italy, the Balkan countries and the Middle East, has led to the emergence of further new stimulating projects, to be seen – as of this year – on the screens of the festival circuit and also in our own investigatory and proactive ShorTS International Film Festival in Trieste.
Massimiliano Nardulli
Curator ShorTS Development & Pitching Training
Selected projects
ALBERTO NICULAE, CONNECTING
Feeling disconnected from the modern world, a lonely elderly woman strikes up an unlikely friendship with a mysterious stranger through an accidental printer connection.
RIBAL CHEDID, FAREWELL, MOM
A very fusional Lebanese mother and her son, have to detach and live far away from each other in the wake of the son’s departure to Berlin.
ALESSANDRA SALVOLDI, IPERJIHAD
Milan. Nineteen-year-old Liaquat races his bicycle at dawn to stop Clara, his new best friend, from carrying out the attack he had planned in the shopping center where she works.
ESTEPHAN KHATTAR, ONE-ZERO
A twelve-year-old is eager to watch the World Cup but lacks financial means to fulfill his dream. In an attempt to find solutions, he ultimately finds himself forced to trade his most precious belonging for one soccer game.
MILENA BOZIC/SUNCICA MILANOVIC, ST. DUJE’S CAKE
On their wedding day, a clash over the celebration style triggers a bloody incident, forcing the loving couple into a journey of self-discovery.
GIULIA CAFAGNA, TEACHER ANDY
A kindergarten teacher on the verge of menopause struggles to look over the restless children in her class, until an old metronome grants her a dark power.
BELINA JANO, UNSAID TRUTHS
A 70-year-old woman’s solitary morning transforms when familial warmth intertwines with a secretive quest after discovering her neighbor’s identity, leading to heartfelt revelations and a journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
UGUR SAHIN, WE CAN GET WILD
In bustling Istanbul, 17-year-old food courier Tolga encounters Pelin (17) amid her family struggles. Their bond deepens over a meal, but tragedy strikes when Pelin’s mother returns home, prompting them to contemplate fleeing.
