Grand Prize Venice International Film Critics’ Week – SIAE

Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon, France, Qatar)

Furthermore, the following prizes have been bestowed:

Audience Award – Comune di Taranto

Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon, France, Qatar)

Verona Film Club Award

Sayidat Al Bahr / Scales by Shahad Ameen (UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia)

Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution

Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon, France, Qatar)

Furthermore, a jury composed by the critics of the French film magazine La Septième Obsession, headed by Thomas Aïdan, assigned the following prizes to the short films in competition in the fourth edition of SIC@SIC (Short Italian Cinema @ Settimana Internazionale della Critica):

Award for Best Short Film

Veronica non sa fumare / Veronica Doesn’t Smoke by Chiara Marotta (Italy)

Award for Best Director

Il nostro tempo / Our Time by Veronica Spedicati  (Italy)

Award for Best Technical Contribution

Los oceanos son los verdaderos continentes / The Oceans Are The Real Continents by Tommaso Santambrogio (Italy)

Tomorrow, Saturday September 8th at 2pm in Sala Perla there will be the screening for general public and festival badge holders of the winning short-film Veronica non sa fumare and of  Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein, winner of the Grand Prize Venice International Film Critics’ Week – SIAE, the Audience Award – Comune di Taranto and the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia & International Award for Best Technical Contribution.

Synopsis

A retired teacher is sitting at a table outside a bar; it’s a beautiful sunny day. The waiter brings him breakfast. Soon after a young man arrives and the teacher invites him to sit, he was waiting for him. He is dark skinned. He comes from Mali. Well dressed, serene, ready for the “game” that the teacher is playing. It’s a puzzle game where one wins when completing a crossword. But there is a variable that makes this game impossible: guessing the solutions before the question is made. Nevertheless, the young man finishes the game. Or almost…

Gianni Amelio

Gianni Amelio (1945) assistant of Vittorio De Seta, started his career in the 70s as a director for TV films (La fine del gioco, La città del sole, La morte al lavoro, Il piccolo Archimede). He debuts in cinema with Blow to the Heart (1982) presented in competition at the Venice International Film Festival. His following films, I ragazzi di via Panisperna (1988), Open Doors (1990), The Stolen Children (1992) highlighted his particular attention to history, labor related issues and the relationships between generations, which will be almost a constant theme in his next works. In 1994 Amelio directs Lamerica, a film entirely shot in post-Communist Albania, where he confirms a style with a strong realistic impact, but open to an epic vision together with influences intelligently absorbed from Italian classical cinema. With the success of The Way We Laughed (1998) he intertwines public experience and personal memory by representing the internal migration from the south to the north of Italy in the 1950s. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival that same year. In 2004 Amelio directs The Keys to the House, the story of the relationship between a young father and his handicapped son, filmed entirely in Berlin. In 2006 he directs The Missing Star, the story of an Italian worker that goes from Shanghai to Mongolia looking for a piece of “his” factory bought from the Chinese. In 2010 Amelio turns to Algeria to work on Albert Camus childhood the way the author intended in his unfinished book, The First Man. The film wins the Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2013 Intrepid: A Lonely Hero was presented in competition in Venice and in 2017 Amelio directed Holding Hands and the short film Someone Else’s Home. Gianni Amelio directed for four years the Torino Film festival and wrote books such as Il vizio del cinema, Un film che si chiama desiderio, L’ora di regia. He also wrote two novels, Politeama Mondadori, 2016 and Padre quotidiano, Mondadori, 2018. He is the only Italian director that won three times the EFA award. He is currently teaching at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome.

Synopsis

It’s a hot afternoon. Serena is helping Christopher to study German. He is bored and prefers to record her with his cell phone. She doesn’t want him to but he likes it because she makes him laugh, especially when Serena acts like a little pig. And when Christopher laughs she is happy. Through this game, the two grow closer and discover an unexpected intimacy.

Simone Bozzelli

Simone Bozzelli (1994) was born in Silvi, province of Teramo. He moved to Milan and graduated at NABA in Media Design and Multimedia Art. He wrote and directed the shorts Mio fratello (2015) and Loris sta bene (2017), the latter presented at the Lovers Film Festival and in many other Italian and international film festivals. Since 2018 he is studying Film Directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Rome.

Synopsis

A woman reaches an abandoned villa that emerges at the border between civilized society and the savage woods from which she just appeared, bare feet and dirty with mud. The woman arrives to a shopping mall. She wanders in the big and empty parking lots following a man who she seems to want to ambush. From her gestures something furious and menacing emerges. Everything seems to draw back to those woods, a place that hides the true nature of her actions.

Andrea Corsini

Andrea Corsini (1980) studied in Berlin in the early 2000s. He directed several music video-clips among which Francesco Renga, F. Quintale, Adam Carpet, A Copy for Collapse (selected for the Trenton Art All Night) and Jules Not Jude (winner of the People Choice a Ibiza Music Video Award). In 2011 he wrote and directed the short film Non nel mio giardino with Paolo Briguglia and Giorgio Carminati. In 2018 the documentary Sociatas mortis was presented at the Filmmaker International Film Festival and at the MiMo Triennale Di Milano. He is currently developing his first feature length film Sembra sapere di me, finalist at the development program of the Milano Film Network InProgress.

Synopsis

An aristocratic family faces bankruptcy. Little Fosca has to take care of her family that rejects her. One day she stumbles upon the studio her dead mother, a talented taxidermist. Here she comes up with an idea: in order to be loved, she has to become like her mother.

Maria Chiara Venturini

Maria Chiara Venturini (1992) after finishing her studies at the John Kavardash Academy she moved to San Francisco where she graduated in Motion Picture and Television at the Academy of Art University. She directed the short films, Chanel-Ancient Regime, Say Yes Dog: Girlfriend and Fosca.

Synopsis

Thomas is a sound catcher, constantly hunting them. When his best friend betrays him by disappearing with Violet, his inspiring muse, Thomas looses a part of himself: the hearing from his left ear. A trauma that divides his new life in two.

Lorenzo Landi, Michelangelo Mellony

Lorenzo Landi (1984) graduated in History of Cinema and Film Analysis at the Università La Sapienza of Rome. He specialized in screenplay at the RAI Script course and then graduated in film directing at the Centre d’Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya in Barcelona and at the Bande à Part cinema school. Michelangelo Mellony (1981) graduated in Political Science at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and in Musical Production at the Sonica School in Buenos Aires. He moved to Barcelona to continue his studies as a music producer at the Beatlabs School and worked as an author, composer and video maker. Monologue is the first short film as directors.

Synopsis

Roberta is a nine year old girl who wants to enjoy the last days of summer on the beach playing with her friends, while her father Donato forces her to stay at home to help with household chores. The distance between the two seems unbridgeable, but the discovery that Donato is much more fragile than it seems, will lead them to appreciate their time together.

Veronica Spedicati

Veronica Spedicati (1992) graduated at the Dams Faculty of Roma Tre University with an experimental thesis about cinema made by deaf people. In 2013 she got a scholarship to study at the Remap Department in the UCLA of Los Angeles. In 2015 she shot the documentary La Prima, focused on the story of a deaf girl. After working as a video maker and in several sets as an assistant director, she went back to school at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Rome. In 2018 her short film Il giorno della Patata was selected in competition at the Rome Film Festival in the section Alice nella Città.

Synopsis

Having Cuba as a background, decadent and in crisis, in a black-and-white lacerated by the Caraibic swinging rain, Alex and Edith, a couple in their 30s, live their love story made of small daily gestures, stories from the past, nostalgia, and a deep intimacy.

Tommaso Santambrogio

Tommaso Santambrogio (1992) directed his first short film in 2016, D’Istanti Lontani, set between Milan and Paris. He worked as an assistant director in several films, including Il Signor diavolo by Pupi Avati and Quasi Natale by Francesco Lagi. In 2018 he directed Escena Final, a short film made in collaboration with Werner Herzog in the Peruvian Amazon and presented in many festivals around the world. He is currently working on the next film by Lav Diaz in the Philippines.

Synopsis

Veronica is 17 years old and for a long time she has been spying from afar a life different from hers, and she chose it for herself. When she finally manages to approach Alessia, she immerses herself completely in this new world that appears to be the same and at the same time different from what she imagined.

Chiara Marotta

Chiara Marotta (1993) works as a director and editor of musical video-clips, commercials, short and long feature films, having received several awards. She is co-founder of the production company Lapazio Film that produced the short Quelle brutte cose, written and edited by her, awarded for the Best Technical Contribution for Editing at the 33. Venice International Film Critics’ Week and was also presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.

Synopsis

A day where the void, superstition, anguish and fear will have the confirmation that a man without quality was looking for, for a long time.

Bonifacio Angius

Bonifacio Angius (1982), director, screenwriter, director of photography and producer, directed several short films awarded in numerous international film festivals. His first feature film Perfidia was the only Italian film in competition at the 67th Locarno International Film Festival in 2014, winning the young critics’ award and had an outstanding success amongst the critics. His second feature film Ovunque proteggimi was presented at the 56th Torino Film Festival and in many other international film festivals. The film was nominated for the Silver Ribbon for best screenplay. Francesca Niedda had a nomination as best actress at the Italian Golden Globes, while Alessandro Gazale, the male protagonist, won the Vittorio Gassman award for best male interpretation at the BIFeST in 2019. Since 2013 Bonifacio Angius is managing the production company Il Monello Film.

Synopsis

Amidst the struggle of survival in a big city, a red rose brings together three tales of impossible loves. Love between an unavailable girl and boy. Love between two women. Love of an entire city for its Bollywood stars.

Gitanjali Rao

Gitanjali Rao (1971), a self-taught animator and filmmaker, emerged into the international stage with her animated short Printed Rainbow which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2006 and went on to win 25 awards. Her body of work includes animated commercials, pre-production for animated features, logo-motions as well as graphic novels and illustrated stories. She is also an award-winning actress on stage and in films. Bombay Rose, a labour of love painted frame by frame and made over six years, is her debut feature.

Synopsis

Lebanon, July 2006. War is raging between Hezbollah and Israel. During a 24h ceasefire, Marwan heads out in search of his father who refused to leave his Southern village. As the ceasefire is quickly broken, Marwan finds himself under the rain of bombs and takes shelter in a house with a group of elders. Suddenly, a group of Israeli soldiers enter the first floor. Trapped in the house and hostages of their own fears, the next three days will see the situation spiral out of control.

Ahmad Ghossein

Ahmad Ghossein (1981), is a filmmaker and video artist. He directed several documentaries, short films and videos including Operation Nb… (Best Director Prize at Busan Film Festival 2004), My Father is Still a Communist (Moma, Berlinale, Best Short Film at Tribeca 2011) and The Fourth Stage (Berlinale Forum Expanded 2016). He co-directed White Noise with Lucie La Chimia, a short that opened the Directors’ Fortnight in 2017. All This Victory is his first feature length film.

Synopsis

In a cheap brothel at the foothills of an Athenian fortress, a man recounts the magnificent events of his life. His search for love and glory is retold and relived by many: a prostitute with an unredeemable past, a gangster haunted by bad luck, an icon painter who has no faith… In one of the stories, the man finds his riches, in another he becomes a vagabond prophet, in yet another he returns home to his wife. Memories betray him, but he knows for sure that in one of these lives, he will be killed.

Mantas Kvedaravičius

Mantas Kvedaravičius (1976) teaches Visual Culture and lives between Athens and Vilnius. His previous films Barzakh and Mariupolis have explored dreams and death, and art forms and warfare, respectively. The films have premiered at Berlinale and have been shown and awarded worldwide. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and writes on aesthetics, materiality, and affect. His first feature film Parthenon on body and memory comes from a long-term research in Odessa, Istanbul and Athens.

Synopsis

Chile, 1970. During a night of heavy drinking, Jaime, a lonely 20-year-old young man, stabs his best friend in what seems a passion outburst. Sentenced to prison, he meets “The Stallion”, an older and respected man in whom he finds protection, and from whom he learns about love and loyalty. Behind bars, Jaime becomes “The Prince”. But as their relationship grows stronger, “The Stallion” faces the violent power struggles within the prison.

Sebastian Muñoz

Sebastián Muñoz (1973) graduated from the Cinema School of the Arcis University and has been working as a production designer for some of the most significant films in contemporary Chilean cinema. In 1996 he shot his first short film Happiness and in 1997 Good Luck. Based on a novel by Mario Cruz (Elías O. Martínez), El Principe is his first feature film.

Synopsis

Viktoria is an odd and extremely self-disciplined researcher in the field of suicide. She is invited to a psychiatric ward to treat the suicidal patient Jenny. Through intimate night conversations, they form a tight bond. Viktoria slowly opens up to experience closeness with another person for the first time in her life, but the closer the two women get, the more it becomes clear that something is not as it seems.

Marie Grahtø

Marie Grahtø (1984) graduated from the independent film school Super16 in 2014. She has travelled to festivals around the world with her three short films Daimi (2012), Yolo (2013) and her graduation work Teenland (2014). Psychosia (2019) is her feature film debut.

Synopsis

Mandy is a mother, a writer, a nihilist. Mandy is a modern woman in a crisis. Raising a son in the midst of a female revolution, mining the pain of her parents’ separation and professionally writing about a love that no longer exists, she falls upon a troubled man, Pete, who’s searching for a sense of worth, belonging and ‘restored’ Male identity.

Billie Piper

Billie Piper (1982) is an English actress, dancer, and singer. At the age of 15 she released her debut single Because We Want To, which made her the youngest artist to enter at number one on the UK Singles Chart. In 2003, she retired from the recording industry and began an acting career, starring in TV series Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Penny Dreadful. Piper has starred in five plays since 2007 and was given a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Yerma. Rare Beasts is her first feature as a director.

Synospis

Set in a dystopian landscape, Scales is the story of a young strong-willed girl, Hayat, who lives in a poor fishing village governed by a dark tradition in which every family must give one daughter to the sea creatures who inhabit the waters nearby. In turn the sea creatures are hunted by the men of the village. Saved from this fate by her father, Hayat is considered a curse on the village and grows up an outcast. Nevertheless, she does not surrender to this fate and fights for a place within her village. After her mother gives birth to a baby boy, Hayat must accept the brutal custom of giving herself to the sea creatures or finding a way to escape.

Shahad Ameen

Shahad Ameen (1988), was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Video Production and Film Studies from the University of West London, and she also holds a degree in Screenwriting. Her short films include Our Own Musical, Leila’s Window (2011), and Eye & Mermaid (2013), this latter presented at the film festivals in Dubai, Toronto, and Stockholm. Scales is her first feature film.

Synopsis

One day, Pasquale decides to change his name and to be called Tony. Because despite being born in Bari in the mid 60s, he crosses the ocean with his family at 9 years of age and grows up as a real American. He becomes a taxi driver in Yuma, but he is arrested due to his “side job”: carrying illegal immigrants to the US through the Mexican border. He is therefore forced to choose: jail in Arizona or deportation to Italy. Once back in the region of Puglia, he finds himself living alone in a cave in Polignano a Mare, looking at Italy as a small, stuck country, with no opportunities and without dreams. But Tony is not willing to surrender…

Ascanio Petrini

Ascanio Petrini (1979) was born in Bari. A DAMS graduate, he directed a few short films, among which Piscio, presented at Cortodorico and among the finalists of Nie Wiem. His first documentary Salva la cozza was selected at Sguardi Altrove Film Festival in Milan, and RIFF in Rome. He has been working as a first assistant director on several Italian and international films. Tony Driver is his debut feature.

Synopsis

In a small, forgotten town surrounded by tree-covered mountains lives a small boy and his mother. Traditional life in the town has been uprooted ever since it got caught in the crossfire of the war between the military and the cartels. With few opportunities for work and not enough money to move somewhere else, the mother cultivates marijuana for the cartels. One day, she does not return from work. Struck with grief, the grandmother tells the little boy to go into the forest and pray to the sun, the wind, and the water so that they will return his mother unharmed. As the soldiers arrive and the villagers prepare for their last stand, the awesome power of nature manifests itself.

Joshua Gil

Joshua Gil (1976) has a Masters Degree in Cinematography by the School of Cinema and Audiovisual of Catalonia (ESCAC) in Barcelona Spain. Gil began his professional career in the photography department of the film Japón by Carlos Reygadas. Subsequently developed as a DoP in short films, feature films and documentaries while deepening his studies abroad with filmmakers such as Patricio Guzmán and The Quay Brothers. In 2007 he began his career as director of documentaries, commercials and television series. In 2015 he directed his first feature film La Maldad selected at the 65th Berlinale.

The seven features in competition at the 34th Venice International Film Critics’ Week are eligible for two main awards: the Audience Award, realized thanks to the support of Comune di Taranto; Grand Prize Venice International Film Critics’ Week, realized thanks to the support of SIAE – Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori and awarded by a jury to the best film in selection. Furthermore, the films in competition are eligible for the following prizes: Verona Film Club Award, bestowed by a jury composed of the under-35 members of the Verona Film Club and awarded to the most innovative film in the section; Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution, sponsored by the Hotel Saturnia in Venice and conferred by a committee of experts.

In competition

• Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon, France, Qatar)
• Partenonas / Parthenon by Mantas Kvedaravičius (Lithuania, Ukraine, France)
• El Principe / The Prince by Sebastian Muñoz (Chile, Argentina, Belgium)
• Psykosia / Psychosia by Marie Grahtø (Denmark, Finland)
• Rare Beasts by Billie Piper (United Kingdom)
• Sayidat Al Bahr / Scales by Shahad Ameen (UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia)
• Tony Driver by Ascanio Petrini (Italy, Mexico)

Special event out of competition – Opening film 

• Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao (United Kingdom, India, France, Qatar)

Special event out of competition – Closing film

• Sanctorum by Joshua Gil (Mexico, Qatar, Dominican Republic)

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