ShorTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
TRIESTE 1 – 8 JULY 2017
Cinema, Workshops, Special Events, Meetings, Cinematic Walks
ShorTs international Film Festival, will take place in Trieste from the 1st to the 8th July 2017, presided over by Chiara Valenti Omero. Each year the festival welcomes and presents to Trieste the best short films produced around the world and their writers, along with feature film works from emerging Italian writers, meetings and debates based around the seventh art, formative workshops for adults and youngsters, special initiatives of public sensitization based around the themes of actuality, initiatives and special events.
THE 18TH SEASON ON RECORD, RENOVATION AND MATURITY
Shorts has reached 18 years and in its old age it has also registered record numbers of entrants never previously reached in the history of the festival: the submissions have reached the exorbitant quota of 4318 short films which have come from 123 countries around the world. The increase of submissions is down to the increased visibility of the festival, through new initiatives and presentations, but also a celebrated history in which we have seen renovation and research, two of our strongest attrributes.
When it comes to the renovation the president Chiara Valenti Omero has decided to give way and responsibility to a young group that have worked for some time in the organizational team. The selection of short films for the line up was therefore chosen by Francesco Ruzzier who this year has brought a new lease of life to Italian productions: ‘It’s harder to encompass and represent in a single story the fragmented reality in which we are accustomed to living, but if we try to see some of these fragments in a sequence- whether they are experimental, funny, scary, animated or extremely realistic- it will be like travelling across the earth, succeeding in this way, to get to know it a bit better: this is what I wish to put across, even just a small amount, in this selection of ShorTS International Film Festival.’
THE JURY
In this 18th season a panel of artists, cinema professionals, writers and film critics of great renown have been called upon to judge the short and feature films. The names of the jury for the various sections are as follows….
Maremetraggio: Charlotte Micklewright (Encounters Festival, UK), Jacopo Chessa (Director of the Centro Nazionale del Cortometraggio), Pivio (film composer), Cristina Picchi (director and visual artist), Marco Spagnoli (film critic, director and screenwriter)
Nuove Impronte: Alessandro D’Alatri (director), Alessio Vassallo (actor), Daniela Virgilio (actress) Luciano Sovena (President of the Roma Lazio Film Commission), Manuela Mandler (producer)
The jury for the SNCCI Award is comprised of the critics Adriano De Grandis, Simone Emiliani and Marianna Cappi.
The jury for the AGICI Award is represented by the producer Marina Marzotto, while the ANAC Award will be assigned by the director and screenwriter Francesco Martinotti.
MAREMETRAGGIO SECTION
Overall we have 91 short films in the line-up for the Maremetraggio section, 18 of which are Italian, a good 7 more than in 2016. Amongst the selected titles many are animated shorts, the type which are good for the re-interpretation of realities that can be difficult to express in other formats. If there is a global theme that can be best applied to the dosier of works which have come to Trieste this year, it would have to be that of borders. We see this manifested in works from Europe to Asia, across the border, and all the way back in the work of many directors.
Our final selections come from a total of 33 different countries: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgio, Canada, Cina, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Great Britain, The United States and Venezuela.
We see many titles in the line-up that have already received recognition, from Time Code by Juanjo Gimenez (Spain) winner of the Palme D’Or at Cannes and Oscar candidate for the best Short film, to The Bridge over the River by Jadwiga Kowalska (Switzerland) winner of the Pardino D’Oro for Best Swiss Short Film at Locaro, or Semele by Myrsini Aristidou (Cyprus) winner of the Generation Kylus Jury Prize for best Short Film at the Berlinae. Then there is also Samedi Cinema by Maradou Dia (Senegal) presented at Venice73 and Toronto, Metube 2- August Sings Carmina Burana by Daniel Moshel (Austria) presented at the Sundance Film Festival, Ascenao by pedro Peralta (Portugal) presented at the Semaine de la Critique of Cannes, Valparaiso by Carlo Siron (Italy) presented at Locarno and winner of ‘Pardi di Domani- The film und Video Untertitelung’, or Balcony by Toby Fell-Holden (UK) presented at the Berlinale and winner of Generation 14plus- Best Short Film.
All of the Shorts will be projected from the 1st to the 8th in Piazza Verdi starting at 9:30 pm. Remember though, that in the case of bad weather the projections will take place in Teatro Miela, at the same time.
AWARDS FOR THE MAREMETRAGGIO SECTION
Amongst the confirmed acknowledgements for the 2017 season there is the ESTENERGY award for the Best Short Film with a prize of 5,000 euro’s; the Makinarium Award for the best animated short and special effects, which offers studio time to the winner; the prestigious Studio Universal Award, created thanks to the renewal of the partnership between the Maremetraggio Association and Studio Universal (Mediaset Premium on DTT)- the TV of cinema from those who do cinema- that consists of the acquisition of the Pay rights for the transmission of the best Italian short, and there is also the Award for Best Italian Editing assigned by the AMC (Associazione Montaggio Cinematografico e Televisivo- Association of Film and Television Editing), and many more.
This year we have also confirmed the TriesteCaffè Award assigned by the public who, each evening crowd Piazza Verdi. The projections in the Piazza are open to everyone.
MOTORI RUGGENTI: PREVIEW OF THE NEW DISNEY PRODUCTION
On the evening of the 30th of June there will be a special pre-opening event with the international preview presentation of the new Disney documentary production, Motori Ruggenti, written and directed by Marco Spagnoli. This is a winning project that celebrates the all Italian passion for cars, an antique and profound liaison recounted through direct testimonies from a series of exceptional protagonists.
The documentary covers 95 years of speed through repertoire images in a crescendo of stories and testimonies, starting at the founding of the first motorway in the world in Italy, 1922.
Motori Ruggenti is a journey exploring the Italian passion for cars and the importance that this has had, not only on pop culture, but on the modernization and industrialization of our country. A long route through a century: finding our roots in an unforgettable and spectacular past created by visionaries, champions, engineers and mechanics, we see a future integrated with technology where, to dominate planning, there is design, security and respect for the environment.
The narrator of this long love story is Massimiliano Manfredi. He follows different contributors throughout the documentary: Giancarlo Fisichella, Ivan Capelli, Fabio Concato, Alessandro D’Alatri, Matilda De Angelis, Giovanna Di Rauso, Sabrina Ferilli, Edoardo Leo, Maria Leitner, Gianfranco Mazzoni, Federico Paolini, Emanuele Pirro, Michele Rossi, Matteo Rovere, Prisca Taruffi, Fabio Troiano, Rolando Ravello, Alessandro Roja, Daniele Vicari, along with historic and expert interventions of the sector, they join us in this pioneering Italian passion for cars throughout the various eras.
On the occassion of the projection of the documentary Mottori Ruggenti a little representation of the Club della Settimana dei Motori will be present in the form of an exposition of cars and motors from the époque, to welcome the event dedicated to the Italian passion for motors on behalf of the enthusiasts of Trieste. The first season of the event Settimana dei Motori took place last April thanks to the co-organization of the Assessorato Turismo of the Comune di Trieste and of the historical MotoClub Trieste 1906. It had the intention of becoming a big annual happening in the calendar of the manifestation of Trieste, thanks to the determination and passion of many Clubs from around the area. In 2018 it will take place during the week of the 8th to the 15th April, ending with the Salita dei Campioni, the re-evocation of the historical and famous uphill Trieste-Opicina races, that took place between 1911 and 1971.
24H SHORTS COMIC CONTEST, THE COMICS THAT BECOME CINEMA
Created in Trieste is a competition in which we will see a transition from paper to screen with the 24H Comic Contest; a free creative competition for artists who will be asked to illustrate 4 comic strip tables based on a screenplay that they will be assigned at some point during the organization of the festival. The screenplay will include dialogue, movement and details that the participants should utilize when designing their works, along with the necessary materials to aid the working process: pencils, card and indications on the location and the physical attributes of the characters- all technical pointers on which to base the outline of the strip.
The competition will take place on Friday the 30th June 2017 (from 10am to 10pm) and Saturday the 1st July 2017 (from 9am to 9pm) in the cornices of the Castello San Giusto. The participants will have 24 hours in total to transform the screenplay into cartoons.
The 3 best works, judged by 4 professionals renowned worldwide for their comic strips (including Stefano Disegni and Agostino Traini), will not only be published on the pages of Il Piccolo, the daily Triestine paper, but will also be edited and animated with the help of the students of I.P.S. Galvani di Trieste using the comic motion technique. They will then be projected onto the big screen on the final evenings of the ShorTS International Film Festival.
The 24H Comic Contest is organized in collaboration with Il Piccolo, the school of comics Grafite di Raimondo Pasin e Paola, Neopolis- lo spazio dell’immaginario and Elio tecno service.
Other than the honour of publication and projection, the winners will also be awarded with supplies from our event partners, Neopolis – lo spazio dell’immaginario and Elio tecno service.
L’ARMATA DEGLI SCARTI VIVENTI (THE ARMY OF LIVING TRASH). A WORKSHOP FOR EDUCATING YOUNGSTER’S ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RECYCLING.
For years there has been a privileged relationship between ShorTS International Film Festival and the world of youngsters. The short films are always very much loved by this section of the public and for years the workshops and the meetings organized by the festival have always had a massive and fun following. This year ShorTS has the pleasure of hosting for the first time in Trieste, the director Francesco Filippi for a completely original project: L’ARMATA DEGLI SCARTI VIVENTI (THE ARMY OF LIVING TRASH). Construction and animation workshop for making fantastical creatures out of trash.
ShorTS’ new initiative was created in collaboration with Il Piccolo and AcegasApsAmga and invites school children to create characters from things that we throw in the bin each day: plastic, organic waste, glass. The most interesting characters out of all of those submitted to the contest will be chosen along with their creators, who can therefore participate in the stop motion animation workshop, with Francesco Filippi. The final pieces will be presented on stage and projected each evening at the festival in Piazza Verdi from Sunday the 2nd July before the official projections start.
NUOVE IMPRONTE
This year ShorTS is also supporting Italian film talents by proposing a selection of documentaries and fiction, first and second works and those that are distinctive in their cinematic action.
The selection of the curator of the section Beatrice Fiorentino, this year put 7 films into the line-up: Babylonia mon amour by Pierpaolo Verdecchi (docufilm international preview) I tempi felici verranno presto by Alessandro Comodin (fiction), Sagre balere by Alessandro Stevanon (docufilm), Il più grande sogno by Michele Vannucci (fiction), Orecchie by Alessandro Aronadio (fiction), Upwelling – La risalita delle acque profonde by Pietro Pasquetti e Silvia Jop (docufilm), Cuori puri by Roberto De Paolis (fiction).
‘We believe that unusual, different and anti-conformist works are still possible and that thanks to the courage of still not widely known writers and their determination to break out onto the screen, a new era of good cinema is still conceivable,’ says journalist and critic Beatrice Fiorentino, who presides over the “Nuove Impronte section”. ‘For some years now, we have decided to award prizes to those who choose to stay outside the comfort zone of Italian Cinema, to sustain them in their fight, which is also ours, for above all, a free cinema. The 7 films in the Nuove Impronte section 2017 recount achieved and failed ideals, failures and bouncing back from failure; the characters observe an often unrecognisable reality, through radical transformations, looking to redefine boundaries; there is a lot of anger but at the same time love, there is desperation but also true solidarity, betrayal and reconciliation; there are above all, resistant men and women. And despite everything they still dare to dream.’
The goal is to help this section grow, up to the point that it becomes a point of reference for the discovery and promotion of the best Italian cinema. This year in particular Nuove Impronte is immersed in a wider discourse on the revaluation of contemporary Italian cinema along with the Homage to Anolfi and Parenti, the Prospettiva Award to Daphne Scoccia and the Conferma Award to Claudio Giovannesi.
The films will be projected each evening at the cinema Ariston starting at 9 30pm.
AWARDS FOR THE NUOVE IMPRONTE SECTION
This year ShorTS will also support the talent of Italian cinema proposing a film, documentary and fiction selection of first and second works, unreleased or little seen, that will compete for the Herra Comm award for best film, the Bakel award for the film most voted for by the public, the Critics award as chosen by the SNCCI and the award for Best Production chosen by the AGICI. A novelty for this 18th season of the festival is the ANAC award for the best screenplay.
PROSPETTIVA AWARD
This year’s ShorTS International Film Festival’s Prospettiva Award goes to Daphne Scoccia, for her magnificent interpretation in Fiore by Claudio Giovannesi.
The Marchigian actress, who on the evening of the 8th June received the Ciak d’Oro award ‘Rivelazione dell’Anno’ (Revelation of the Year) will be in Trieste on the 7th July with Giovannesi (the director) to collect her Prospettiva Award.
Each year ShorTS shines the spotlight on an Italian cinema talent and through the years the foresight of the festival has kicked off the career of award winning artists. Prospettiva is a special moment, a betting on the future of young talents that are singled out each year by ShorTS. The festival started doing this many years ago with Alba Rohrwacher and has always brought luck to award winning artists: from Luca Argentero, to Luca Marinelli, from Michele Riondino all the way to Matilda De Angelis.
CONFERMA AWARD
Claudio Giovannesi returns to Trieste to receive the CONFERMA AWARD on the behalf of the festival that spotted talent in him from a young age. The director will be in Trieste along with the actress Daphne Scoccia.
CINEMA HOMAGE TO ANOLFI AND PARENTI
From the 1st to the 6th July the works of the documentary makers Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti will be projected at the Ariston Cinema. These works have the wide support of critics and the public from major film festivals. They will be projected in the following order: I promessi sposi, Grandi speranze, Il castello, Materia oscura, L’infinita fabbrica del Duomo, Spira mirabilis.
The film makers will be present in Trieste throughout the week of the festival during which they will run two workshops, the first will be held at the Casa Circondariale for the participants of the Oltre il Muro project, and the second is open to everyone and split over two days, Thursday 6th and Friday 7th July. The second workshop will be held at Mediateca La Cappella Underground in via Roma 19, Trieste. You can book a place by writing to mediateca@lacappellaunderground.org.
MUSICAL MASTERCLASS WITH PIVIO AND SPECIAL PROJECTION OF IT’S FINE ANYWAY
Roberto Pischiutta aka. Pivio is one of the main Italian film music composers currently with 70 musical creations that have accompanied Italian cinema from the 90’s until now. The composer will be in Trieste from Thursday 6th to Friday 7th July where he will hold two master classes, the first in the Casa Circondariale for the participants of the Oltre il Muro project. The second master class is open to all at the Mediateca La Cappella Underground in via Roma 19, Trieste. You can book a place by writing to mediateca@lacappellaunderground.org.
Thursday 6th July will also see the projection of his short film It’s Fine Anyway in Piazza Verdi that is to be introduced by Pivio himself.
DIARIO BLU(E)
SPECIAL EVENT IN COLLABORATION WITH ARCIGAY ARCOBALENO TRIESTE GORIZIA ONLUS
Sunday 2nd July will see the projection of Diario Blu(e) by Titta Cosetta Raccagni at the Ariston Cinema, a delicate animated story based on the director’s conscience when it comes to her sexuality. Retracing her own autobiography, Titta Cosetta Raccagni revisits the nowadays out of use practise of diary writing and the discovery of this, using the language of animation. David Zotti, Responsabile Scuola di Arcigay Trieste, stated that the short is very significant as it reflects the many stories that the volunteers tell to students and the questions that arise during the project, A scuola per conoscerci, financed by the FVG region and brought forward in 9 years of public schools. Due to the delicateness and sensibility of the story the association has decided to give its support to ShorTS and repeat the short in future meetings for the initiative. The projection at the Ariston Cinema will be followed by a debate.
TUTTE LE ANIME DEL MIO CORPO
SPECIAL EVENT
Monday 3rd July at 7pm in the Ariston Cinema will see the projection of Triestine director Erika Rossi’s last documentary, an intense and touching story tied to the Resistance and their territory. The film has been presented in the line-up at Nyon in France at the last season of Visions du Réel. The protagonist of the film, Lorena, after the death of her mother, finds a diary written during the Great War belonging to her. An amazing discovery for the daughter, now a psychotherapist, who believed her father to be a hero of the Resistance. The ‘fil rouge’ of this docufilm is the diary, with its intimate, poetic and reflexive yet at the same time clear, unsettling and often provocative writing.
SWEETS4KIDS
For some years ShorTS has hosted a section of shorts directed to an age group between 8 and 13 years old. The short films have been selected by the young Tommaso Gregori.
The section is judged by a specialized panel called the “giuria dei 101”, the youngsters who would like to may participate with works that have been submitted by their parents, having compiled the appropriate form which can be found at www.maremetraggio.com .
EstEnergy and Hera Comm are partners and supporters of this section which will be projected on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th July at the Ariston Cinema starting at 6pm.
MERCURIUS PRIZE
The Jungian society, with a special appearance from one of its principal components, Murray Stein, will reunite in Trieste on Friday 7th July at the Miela Theatre for a round table on the comparison of methods of treatment which will be presided over by the journalist Rula Jebreal. The meeting will be introduced by a film which is dear to the Prize managers: Spirits of the Rocks by Peter Amman who will be in Trieste, and will also bring his experiences as an assistant to Federico Fellini. At the meeting/debate we will then follow on with the local preview of the documentary film L’Accademia della Follia, in collaboration with Approdi. Rotte Artistiche Senza Bussola 2017, in the presence of the director Anush Hamzehian and the successive conferment, the evening of the 8th July, of the Mercurius Prize for a film that corresponds to the values of Junghian psychology and that is distinctive for its’ particular psychological profundity and relevance.
OLTRE IL MURO
Also continuing in 2017 the Oltre il Muro project that brings cinema professionals to the Casa Circondariale in Trieste: this year the film music composer, Pivio and the documentary makers D’Anolfi and Parenti will make their way through the doors. On Friday the 7th July the guests of the Casa Circondariale will assign the award for the best short film from the line up of the Maremetraggio section.
HOMAGE TO ENCOUNTERS
ShorTS has partnered up with the British Encounters Film Festival (Bristol) and projects a selection of the best short films which have been proposed by this important overseas festival. The guests will then return the favour in September with the courtesy of projecting a selection of films chosen by ShorTS. The exhibition is backed by the British Film Club Trieste.
BANDO MIGRARTI PRIZE GIVING
A special meeting in the presence of Doctor Paolo Masini is taking place in Trieste. Doctor Paolo Masini is the advisor of the Ministro per i Beni e le Attività Culturali Dario Franceschini (Dario Franceschini Ministry for Cultural Goods and Activities), that will deliver a special mention to the project Le Afriche delle nostre pianure. It will also be an occasion for presenting three more projects that are distinctive for their artistic value for not having been financed by the state. It will follow a meeting called Produco quando voglio. O smetto? held by Maurizio Di Rienzo in which writers and producers will participate and will be an opportunity to welcome to Trieste the directors who we have hosted at the festival in the past, making a point on the state of Italian cinema, the legislative situation and the future of the sector.
CINEMATIC WALKS
For years Trieste has been the set for fiction and film production that has had great results on a national level. To enrich the local touristic offering during ShorTS, night time walks organized by the Casa del Cinema will be taking place in the most impressive places seen in the past few years on the big and the small screen. This way the most celebrated scenes from successful films or fiction such as Il Ragazzo Invisibile or La Porta Rossa can be revived through the lens and through Virtours technology. In order to participate you have until 12pm the day before the trip to book by calling +39 339 453 5962 or emailing esternogiornots@gmail.com. Leading the walks is the film critic Nicola Falcinella and the journalist Elisa Grando.
AWARD CEREMONY
The award ceremony will be held at the Alinari Image Museum on Saturday 8th July at the Bastione Fiorito of Castello di San Giusto starting at 8pm, giving participants the opportunity to visit the Robert Capa in Italia show produced by the Fratelli Alinari along with the Museo Nazionale Ungherese. A show dedicated to the years of the second World War in Italy, with original photos and projections, multimedia stations and interactives to contextualize and facilitate the understanding of the work of the great photo-reporter.
CLOSING EVENT
The grand closing event on Saturday 8th July, in collaboration with Cinemazero and Le Giornate del Cinema Muto di Pordenone, and with the support of EstEnergy and Hera Comm, will be the projection of the silent film Show People, one of the cornerstones of brilliant 20’s comedy signed by the great director King Vidor, with a parade of stars of the époque playing themselves: Charlie Chaplin, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, Mae Murray, William Hart and many others. The film will be accompanied by the live band, ZeroOrchestra from Pordenone. The ensemble was created by the Cinemazero initiative and has done many successful performances. Therefore to accompany this outstanding piece of cinema, playing in Piazza Verdi we will have Guenter Buchwald (conductor and pianoforte) followed by himself and Mirko Cisilino (trombone), Luca Grizzo (percussion), Didier Ortolan (clarinet and saxophone), Gaspare Pasini (saxophone), Romano Todesco (double bass), Luigi Vitale (vibraphone and xylophone).
FESTIVAL LOCATIONS
Just like every year the projections of the Maremettraggio section will take place in the Piazza Verdi.
The projections for Nuove Impronte, l’Omaggio a D’Anolfi e Parenti and the projections for Sweets4Kids will however take place at the Ariston Cinema, on via Romolo Gessi 14.
The musical Masterclass by Pivio and the cinematic documentary workshop by D’Anolfi and Parenti will Take place at the Mediateca La Cappella Underground in via Roma 19.
The projection of the Accademia della Follia will take place at the Miela Theatre, piazza Duca degli Abruzzi, 3. The 24H SHORTS COMIC COMPETITION will take place at the Castello di San Giusto.
The meeting for the production Produco quando voglio. O smetto? will take place at the Sala Bobi Bazlen at the Palazzo Gopcevich, via G. Rossini, 4.
ShorTS has been made possible thanks to the contribution of the Direzione Generale per il Cinema MIBACT, Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia with the department of Attività Produttive and the Assessorato alla Cultura, Comune di Trieste, Fondazione Casali, AcegasApsAmga, with the support of Crèdit Agricole FriulAdria, the award and event partners HeraComm and EstEnergy, in collaboration with TriesteEstate, Casa del Cinema, Ariston Cinema, Mediateca La Cappella Underground, Trieste Film Festival, Teatro Instabile Miela, the award partners Bakel, Trieste Caffè, SNCCI, ANAC, AGICI, AMC, Premiere Film, Studio Universal, Makinarium, with the participation of Arcigay Arcolabaleno Onlus Trieste Gorizia, British Film Club Trieste, Lab 80 Film. The Great Britain Focus is in collaboration with Encounters. The event partners are Eliotecnoservice, Grafite, Neopolis and Trudi. The official suppliers are It’s Watch, Giada, Marco Cecchini, Caffè Verdi, Hotel Colombia, Container_120, Viezz, Urban Homy, Borsa Trieste and Alinari Image Museum. The media partners are the daily paper of Trieste Il Piccolo, Radioattività, Film4Life, TaxiDrivers, Mymovies.it, Cinema4Stelle, Fabrique du Cinema.
