The sixth edition of the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival opened today at the Auditorium Santa Margherita at 2.00 pm with the projection of the short film L’Avventura (The Adventure), inspired by the neo-realist story “The adventure of the two spouses” by Italo Calvino. It was created by students of the Ca’ Foscari Digital Cinema Course, that was born thanks to the collaboration between the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, the Ca’ Foscari Challenge School and the festival itself. Young Filmmakers at Ca’ Foscari is the end result of the lessons that has allowed 26 students to approach the world of cinema thanks to the contribution of the co-ordinator Luca Pili and several film industry professionals. There was great excitement for the students who have seen their work projected in the Auditorium and some of these students are hoping to continue their own way as videomakers. At 2.30 pm there was the special program “In the abode of the clouds: the Garos of Meghalaya”, dedicated to the Indian population of Garo, and the curator Cecilia Cossio presented an extended trailer of the short film Rong’ Kuchak by director Dominic Megam Sagma and the documentary Wangala: a Garo Festival by Beppa Ray. “Wangala”, that was created in 1993 and shot in remote villages, shows a perspective on the most important festival of the Garos and it makes us understand how the traditions linked to it are gradually losing them. Both directors have received many awards for these two works: “Rong’ Kuchak” won the special mention Volumina of the International Competition at the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival for the best contribution to cinema as art; while “Wangala: a Garo Festival” won the national award in India for the “Best Anthropological/Ethnographic film” in 1993.
The special programme dedicated to Robert Altman took place at 3.30 PM. Onstage came the curator Michele Fadda who, thanks to the collaboration with UCLA, Altman Estate and Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, was able to present the works of the famous American director. Three short films were projected in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his death: the video The Perfect Crime (1955) dedicated to road safety, the satirical short film Pot au feu (1965) and the music video Girl Talk of Bobby Troup. Particular attention was paid to the special programme about John Snellinberg Film, during which came up on stage the curator Michele Faggi and some of the members of the collective: Lorenzo Orlandini, Luca Taiti and Patrizio Gioffredi. The five videos and the two short films that were presented reconsider the film genres through an ironic look and leave an unforgettable image of Tuscany’s surroundings, though never moving from Val di Bisanzio (Prato). These are productions that, even if low-budget and distant from the dominant productive center, stand out thanks to their irony and lively mood. It was then presented the british webserie SOS – Save Our Skins. Four episodes were screened, in which through the well known British humour and the witty dialogues is portrayed with irony a world swamped by a zombie apocalypse. The main characters Ben and Stephen (played by Chris Hayward and Nat Saunders, who are also the creators of the series) do everything they can to save themselves, together with their adventures’ fellas. The series had a great international success and was declared “Webseries of the year” in 2015. At 5.00 pm took place the special programme Zapping the Web, cured by Davide Giurlando. A kaleidoscope of short videos from the “world wide web” showed the public the funny and irreverent side of the global phenomenon of social networks and the sharing of multimedia informations. The main goal of those kind of videos is to astonish, amuse and get the attention of the viewer in a small amount of time. The videos, that lasted only a bunch of seconds or a couple of minutes, have been either realized using the mobile app Vine or taken from Youtube. Some of the people who appeared on the screen were the famous viner Zach King, the Youtube comedians Rhett & Link and the swedish gamer PewDiePie. Needless to say, it was a very funny half an hour that left a smile on the public’s faces and made it aware of the technological revolution we’re all in.
The first Festival day ended with the screening of the first five short films of the International Competition. We began with Parrot Away (Denmark, 2015, 5’) by the Danish director Mads Weidner, a short animated film with, as a protagonist, the parrot Pierre, whose dream is to be chosen by one of the charming pirates that come every day to the island’s parrots shop. When one of the pirates finally picks him his adventure will begin. One In (USA/ Trinidad & Tobago, 2015, 15’) is the first short film by director Vasha Narace, from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The short film is her thesis for the New York Film Academy. Kessie, the protagonist, is now 16 and the only gift she wants for her birthday is a lock on her door. By ignoring her request, her parents seem unaware that dangers might be inside their home. Nabilah (Germany/ Austria, 2015, 22’) is the third short film of the programme, at the presence of its director Paul Meschuh. Within the context of the Afghan war a drama about cultural misunderstandings unfolds. Some German soldiers rescue Nabilah and they bring her to their base, unaware that the inhabitants of Nabilah’s village should not know that she was in contact with a foreigner. Martyna Majewska of Silesia University presents Multifrenia (Poland, 2015, 25’), a short film based on “Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust. A man named Marcel, always surrounded by women, talks about himself and his illness, multifrenia, which does not allow him full control over his emotions. Laila Leelar Katha (Ballad of Laila Leelar) by Lubna Sharmin (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, India/ Bangladesh, 2015, 27’48’’) is set in the turbulent period of the Bengala Partition. The film tells the story of a young Indian girl named Leela through a long flashback that narrates her path of changes and growth that will bring her a new religion, a new name and, probably, the loss of her roots.
