The tribute to David Bowie and the Swiss web series Arthur
Thirteen short films of the Competition were presented today, including the Oscar- nominated “Everything will be ok” by Patrick Vollrath, one of the the two Italians in contest, the Israelian story about abuses “Haunted” and the funny German short film about formation “The Ballad of Emma Plummhoff”.
The Festival continued with the workshop Anymation, the new Slovenian cinema from AGRFT, the video competition Francesco Pasinetti and Video-oke!
Venice, March 17, 2016. The second day of the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival presented several works of the International Competition, accompanied by some of the most awaited special programs, like a tribute to David Bowie and the presentation of the web series “Arthur” with the presence of the creators. Of no smaller interest was the focus on the Slovenian cinema, the workshop Anymation, the short films of the video contest “Pasinetti” and the playful moment of Video-oke!.
Like every year, the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival hosted a space dedicated to the Video Contest “Francesco Pasinetti”, edited by Giovanni Andrea Martini. The theme, “Venice: highlights and shadows of today and yesteday”, has allowed to put under the spotlight the difficult situation in which the county seat of Veneto founds itself. The five short films presented showed how the “eyes” of young directors perceives the city, framing it in different angles, from the fishes that are living in the lagoon to the crafts, and they have tried to propose new solutions to resurrect “from the sea” the city of Venice.
For the second year the Festival hosted the Video-oke!, one of the most awaited and funny entertainment activities of the Festival and also a regular appointment that is part of the tradition of the event. This is the transposition of the karaoke in the film world: a game which consists in dubbing again some famous scenes from well-known films such as Star Wars, The Hobbit, Hunger Games and Ghostbusters. Through the manipulation of film texts, people involved in the Video-oke! have been able to develop an innovative and creative approach to cinema, thanks also to its playful dimension. At 2.00 p.m., there was the first part of the special program Anymation, a workshop dedicated to animated film in which the curator Davide Giurlando commented some of the most significant short films made by two directors. This special directions were born not only out of creative affinities, but also out of blood or even sentimental ties. Examples of these artistic partnerships are Bruno Bozzetto and Guido Manuli, directors who have made the Italian animation history, brothers Dave and Max Fischer, creators of the famous “Betty Boop”, and the works of the spouses Aleksandr Alekseev and Aleksandra Grinevskaja. At 3.00 pm the spotlight was on the dynamic Slovenian cinema, with the special program New Slovenian Cinema from AGRFT, curated by the director Rene Maurin. During the program three different short movies have been screened: But the Goat Survived, Good Luck Nedim and Springtime Sleep. They have been produced by the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT), a prestigious school of cinema in Ljubljana, which has always focused its teachings on both national and international art and research, in order to develop the creativity of its students.
The first short movie of the International Competition shown in the afternoon program was Fears (Canada/Ukraine, 2015, 2’) by the director Nata Metlukh. This was a short silent animation movie, which describes how fears can become part of our daily life, sometimes preventing us from leading a normal life, sometimes keeping our feet on the ground by helping us like friends. The second short movie was Gleichgewicht – Keeping Balance (Austria, 2015, 5’), by the Austrian director Bernhard Wenger. It’s a documentary about the sorrow of a young woman named Denise, who finds an outlet for her tragic past in an amusement park in Vienna. The third short movie was La silla de la vida – The Chair of Life (Spain, 2015, 10’), by the director Carlos Valle, from the school Septum Ars Escuela de Cine y Televisión. This is the second documentary of the day, this time focusing on a different stage of life, old age. Two elderly sisters, Carmen and Maria, share a house and the problems that time ticking by brings. What’s interesting is the fact that Carmen prefers using an old chair rather than a medical walker. The forth short movie shown at the Auditorium Santa Margherita was Mio fratello (Italy, 2015, 12’). This too deals with the theme of family, this time focusing on two brothers, Umberto and Stefano, who have just moved into a new house, where they share the bedroom. Umberto, the younger brother, suffers because of lack of affection, and Stefano has to look after him while their mother works. This was followed by the short movie Miles to Go Before I Sleep, debut film by the Finnish director Hanna Hovitie. This documentary is about the traumas caused by international trafficking and abuse of underage children. Through Achat’s eyes, a Congolese girl taken away from her family, we see hope for a new beginning, after a life of sorrow. The following short movie was Haunted, by the young Israeli director Adi Shaya, who was in the auditorium. The shocking images of this short movie portray the rape of a helpless young girl, almost a child, since in a country at war the fear of missiles is “just as important and justified as the fear that women feel for men”. This was followed by the screening of Under The Sun, short movie by the Chinese director Qiu Yang that has already been selected for some prestigious international festivals. Here we can see a boy meeting an elderly woman who just got hurt by falling to the ground. The boy will accompany the woman to the hospital, but will be blamed for the woman’s fall, causing an unpredictable chain of events. The last short film of the evening program was Alles Wird Gut – Everything Will Be Ok, by the German director Patrick Vollrath. This short movie, nominated for the 2016 Academy Awards and winner of the Student Academy Awards, is about a divorced father, who, out of what he thinks is love for his daughter, suddenly decides to keep her only for himself. However Lea is young but strong, and has a lot to teach to the selfish world of adults.
At 6.00 pm it was presented the special programme about the webseries Arthur, produced by RSI Swiss Radio Television in collaboration with The Swiss Council. The ten episodes were introduced by its creators (and director) Nick Rusconi and Chloe de Souza, the producer Alberto Meroni and the director of photography Giacomo Jaegli. This successful series talks about the namesake protagonist, a forty-year-old ordinary man, with a secret: he is a serial killer who, however, has decided to give up his addiction. At 7.30 pm Michele Faggi introduced the tribute to David Bowie with the screening of Reality,directed by Steven Lippman. It’s a 28 minutes long lasting conversation between the New York-based director and Bowie, re-organized with a combinatorial procedure in form of a deconstructed interview. The film is a powerful visual experience, that came up from the idea of what it means being the famous songwriter, who unfortunately died recently.
The last five short films have been shown from 8.15 pm. Velodrool is an animation by the estoninan director Sander Joon, who was also in the Auditorium. The short is focused on a surrealistic bike race where the competitor is a cyclist addicted to smoking and the prize is a packet of cigarettes. Moksha (directed by Aly Rana – Whistling Woods International – India) tells the story of the armed security guard Asif, who accidentally kills his fellow guard. From that moment his life is full of regrets and desperation, always looking for redemption. KAŽDOU VTEŘINU – Every Second by Amálie Kovářová (attending the evening premiere) is the story of Honza, a boy who used to live into a state of apathy and when he realizes that his life is in danger he decides to move on: a warning to not live a life without thrills or emotions. Fragil by Rebecca Panian, a student at Zurich University of Arts, is about a woman trying to face her fear of falling in love. After too many mistakes and too much pain, she finally finds her inner peace. Die Ballade von Ella Plummhoff – The Ballad of Ella Plummhoff is a journey into the spring awakening of the protagonist between real memories and fantasies.
