International Short Film Competition
The international jury made up of Virginia Mori (Italy), Aneta Ozorek (Holland) and Carolina Caballero (Spain) decreed the following winners of the 19th edition of the Imaginaria festival.
Best Animated Short Film
BESTIA
by Hugo Covarrubias (15′,Cile, 2021)
Italian Premiere
For the original choice of materials, crucial in recreating the narrative of the film, disturbing and uncomfortable. A porcelain face with imperceptible expressions, in whose shiny reflections one has the impression of glimpsing another level of history. Extremely skilled animation, sound design and editing that make viewing a cinematically powerful experience. For the importance of the events told, which while referring to the Chilean dictatorship send a universal message alluding to all the sadly similar situations that have occurred in world history.
Special Mention
NOIR SOLEIL
by Marie Larrivé (20’24”, Francia, 2021)
Italian premiere
For the ability to penetrate deeply into the archeology of a family through the clever visual metaphors of the remains of Pompeii, a city immobilized in the past by a tragedy, as well as the relationship between father and son, interrupted by the traumatic event of suicide but which is contrasted by a new silent hope in the relationship with his daughter. All the details and environments of the film are expertly involved in the psychological narrative of the characters. The beauty and charm of the drawings, the play of light and colors surprise at every step and accompany the narration without disturbing the passionate and never predictable rhythm of the story.
Graduation Short Film Competition
The Student Jury composed of Chiara Di Luca, Claudia Petrangeli, Federico Attardo, Filippo Toscani, Laura Riccobono, Marco Checchin, Mauro Mangione, Sarah Cesarotti, Nicolò Daniele, Mattia Fabbri, Marta Herrera, Valeria Biasin, Marina Reitano decreed the following winners:
Best Student Short Film
LA CONFITURE DE PAPILLONS
by Shih Yen Huang (6’16”/France/2021)
Italian premiere
The variety of animal species and the variety of their deaths are only evoked by the narrator, since nothing of their colors and shapes is shown on video. What the author preferred instead to visualize is the space that was the house in which these animals lived together with her. We therefore see environments in perennial transformation in which exterior and interior mix, where chairs and trees, bookcases and clouds, hills and aquariums interpenetrate and engulf each other. Open and evolving architectures unfold before our eyes, domestic yet not meek, since they host death. Shih Yen Huang has built an audio-visual poem with an oxymoronic trend in which the images do not serve as a visual complement to a linear and self-contained story, but dialogue with a non-didactic and iridescent narrative, underlining certain passages with extreme lyricism and displaying entire landscapes emotional.
Special Mention
IL MONDO DI SOTTO
by Benedetta Sani (4’08”/Italy/2020)
Anteprima italiana / Italian premiere
A great sensitivity results from the interpretation of the starting materials, consisting of leaves and flowers whose specific features are best exploited, enhancing the characteristics of transparency and delicacy and creating a story that is coherently delicate, poetic and highly evocative. The mimicry of the audio almost seems to give us an extra sense in this short film, that of smell: we can almost feel the scent of wet earth and flowers in our nostrils. Abstraction and figurative do not come into conflict, but rather the flower acts as a level for the incredibly small and the incredibly large.
BusLine35A
by Elena Felici (5’50” /Denmark/ 2021)
A narratively well-structured short, in which it is easy to immerse yourself from the very first seconds, thanks to a clean and flowing staging. The author constructs a pleasantly aesthetic narrative cage that emphasizes the feeling of danger. You manage with awareness the opening of other narrative universes, always maintaining high suspense and the attention of the viewer, who empathizes with bitterness. It is a critical and at the same time ironic look at an everyday situation that stands out and detaches itself from other narratives of the genre for quality.
Children Short Film Competition
The children’s jury made up of Lardo Francesco, Nicolò Locaputo, Alessandro Lovecchio, Sofia Albergo, Angela Rotunno, Mirco Mastropierro, Davide D’Elia, Marilisa Volpe, Claudio Darconza, Davide Longo decided the following winner for the “Imaginaria Kids” category:
Best Animated Short Film For Kids
LA’ DOVE L A NOTTE
by Francesco Filippini (12’41” /Italy / 2020)
For the moments of comedy, for the story, for the animation technique, but above all for the moral, which teaches us that we should never take anything for granted.
