Introduction

Maremetraggio, Trieste’s International Shorts Film Festival, held by tradition on the first week of July, has now rounded the buoy of its fifth edition and the “landing” has been very fortunate after having consolidated among the public, critics and experts a name, which stands for success…

MAREMETRAGGIO 2005:
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE BEST
EUROPEAN SHORT FILMS
TRIESTE – SIXTH EDITION

Introduction

Maremetraggio, Trieste's International Shorts Film Festival, held by tradition on the first week of July, has now rounded the buoy of its fifth edition and the “landing” has been very fortunate after having consolidated among the public, critics and experts a name, which stands for success as well as for a great love for the cinema, respect for artistic creations, a stimulus and encouragement to young authors, and the desire for cooperation.

Trieste is once again the venue of choice for this prestigious and rich event, which can also pride itself for the unique and not inconsiderable merit of knocking down those barriers that usually exist between celebrities and the audience. One of Maremetraggio's main attractions is definitely the possibility of interacting with a rich host of figures from the world of cinema: directors, actors, distributors and directors of photography do not simply communicate with the Festival organizers or the press, but they are also available for the public especially during the lively morning debates. This creates a whole series of true parallel artistic events, a sort of “Festival in the Festival”, which gives value added to the kermis. In the course of the previous editions we have had the opportunity of seeing cinema personalities make their debut and reach fame, while the names of prominent figures from the world of cinema have appeared in the Festival's catalogue: suffice it to mention Giuliano Montaldo, Chiara Caselli, Paola Cortellesi, Gillo Pontecorvo, Maria Sole Tognazzi, Valentina Cervi, Anna Falchi, Platinette, Riccardo Milani, Franco Di Giacomo, Luciana della Fornace, Citto Maselli, Ricky Tognazzi and Simona Izzo, Giorgio Tirabassi, Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani…

Particular attention has always focused on teaching activities: young students and Maremetraggio are now a well-consolidated union and the number of young visitors has grown constantly over the years.

Next year as well the core of the event will be constituted by four competitions: the Maremetraggio Section dedicated to the shorts to have won the most important European Festivals in 2004 (they will pass from last year's 24 shorts to next year's 52), which, faithful to the event's international importance, will see many Italian and foreign film shorts compete for the final prize of € 10,000; the Ippocampo Section, dedicated to debut films shot during 2004 by directors who have started their artistic career with film shorts; the Corallino Section, sponsored by Agiscuola, dedicated to the best Italian film short by Italian junior high schools and high schools and, last but not least, the CEI Section, a novelty of last year's edition, which will be consolidated in 2005 with a competition for short films and directors from the countries belonging to the Central European Initiative to offer an overview of the art of cinema in Central Europe.

It will be an event unique in its kind for the number of prizes:

– Best Film Short    
– Best Italian Film Short    
– Audience's Favorite Film Short    
– Best Film Short – Critics Award  
– Ippocampo Prize – Best Debut Work
– Ippocampo Prize – Best Actor
– Ippocampo Prize – Best Actress
– Ippocampo Prize – Audience's Favorite Full-length Film
– Coraggio Prize – To the Producer of a Debut Work
– Corallino Prize – Best Junior High School Film Short
– Corallino Prize – Best High School Film Short
– CEI Prize – Best Film Short

Maremetraggio does its best to favor its visitors by offering free admission. Whoever loves the cinema, audiovisual expression, new forms of communication and the technical and operating aspects of “movie business” will definitely find also at this year's edition a lot of food for thought and, of course, plenty of opportunities for meeting people at rhythms and paces oriented evermore to the future.