Venice, October 6th 2021. Today marks the beginning of the 11th edition of the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival, which will end on Saturday October 9th. It will be taking place in eleven different locations in a widespread manner throughout the city of Venice (and Mestre). 
Female rights are the main theme of the first day at the Santa Margherita Auditorium, the main venue of the festival, with several stories about women’s conditions throughout the world, due to the presence of the Afghan director and producer Alka Sadat. She is the protagonist of the first special program, Women’s Cinema in Afghanistan, and the person who was able to deeply move the audience in the Auditorium, by tragically describing the situation women and cinema have to go through in her native country. Alka and her sister Roya Sadat are respectively the coordinator and the founder of the Herat International Women’s Film Festival, which has been giving a voice to women and gender equality since 2013, but this year it could not take place given the current political situation. “Because of the Taliban, Afghan cities no longer had cinemas, and for a long period of time we were not allowed to create moments of cultural encounter, especially us women. So, we came up with the creation of a festival which could express the requests and needs not only of the women, but of the whole Afghan society. We began everything on our own, with no support, but then witnessing the popularity of the festival continuously grow, until it became one of the most important ones of our country, and not only, was a great satisfaction.” Alka also highlighted the crucial role that cinema can have while experiencing an oppressive regime, especially for women. “The festival allowed a lot of women to enter cinemas for the first time, it gave them the opportunity to go out and participate in the cultural life of their country, showing the reality of Afghan families’ day to day lives!” The director went on explaining how impossible it was for a woman in Afghanistan to work in the cinematic world a few years ago, and how her sister played an important part in this aspect because: “she was the first female director in Afghanistan. At the beginning, it was not easy because a lot of people could not accept the fact that a woman had this kind of job. However, throughout the years, they have learnt to accept it and, now, surely, due also to the current political climate, there are going to be new movements supporting this kind of cinema, because people have finally understood that it can be something useful to our society.” After Alka’s speech, her documentary was projected. It vividly shows the battle against the Taliban, an invisible and deceitful enemy, almost becoming a premonition of the mournful present. The trailer of her sister Roya’s film A letter to the president concludes the program. It is an award-winning story where only the president is able to save a woman sentenced to death for adultery.
The inauguration of the festival then took place with the institutional greetings of the Vice Rector Elti Cattaruzza, of the Councilor of the Heritage, Promotion of the Territory and University of the Municipality of Venice Paola Mar; of Giovanni Dell’Olivo, General Director of the Venice Foundation; and, of course, of the Artistic Director and organizer of the festival Roberta Novielli, who, together, officially kicked off the eleventh edition.
Next to intervene after the opening ceremony is Kabir Bedi, an Indian actor with an Italian citizenship, known in the film industry especially for his starring role in the legendary Sandokan series. Interviewed remotely by Stefano Beggiora, after an excursus on his long acting career, the focus was set on Bedi’s heartfelt activism in his home country. The actor, who comes from a family committed to social and political themes, is interested in numerous philanthropic causes and is Brand Ambassador of various humanitarian associations. His speech focused on the work of the Italian NGO Care&Share which, since 1991, has been pursuing the goal of guaranteeing literacy, health care and assistance to children from the poorest and most downtrodden areas of India. The support of Italian donors was fundamental in the 30 years the association has been active, and it helped about 20,000 children and teenagers. Care&Share also acts as a reference point for these kids’ families, in particular for working mothers, too often abandoned during the growth of their children, starting various projects that in the last period have been focused not only with better education, but also with the consequences caused by the pandemic that strongly hit India, up to the emancipation of women, a topic dear to this edition of the Short.
In the afternoon the new on demand cinematic platform WeShort was presented , introduced on stage by the creator and founder Alessandro Loprieno.
In fact, this year the Short Film Festival collaborates with the first Italian startup dedicated exclusively to the diffusion of online shorts. Born from the passion for the art of the “short cinema”, the purpose of WeShort is to spread the knowledge of this new cinematic world, and give young emerging artists a voice.
For the occasion, two shorts were screened: Skin by Israeli director Guy Nattiv, awarded with the Oscar Prize in the 2019, and On Silent, directed by the Italian director Gabriele Paoli, and presented directly by the actress Jun Ichikawa, who plays the protagonist, and, remotely, from the Oscar nominee for make-up, Vittorio Sodano. To honour the new collaboration, the preview of the docu-short film Nuovo Cinema Breve was screened. It is an original production directed by the associate and filmmaker Carlo Fusco.
The documentary recollects the history of short cinema from its origins to the present day, starring the outstanding Michael Madsen, one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite actors. Thanks to the partnership with the venetian festival, all the film directors taking part in the international competition have the valuable opportunity to distribute their short films directly on the platform. In this way they contribute to spreading exceptional short stories from all over the world.
Last but not least, the evening was enlivened by the screenings of the first short films of the International Contest, from the 30 short films from the best cinematic schools and universities around the world. The first one was En rang par Dieux, a project which the three young italian directors Margherita Giusti, Viola Mancini and Elisabetta Bosco created for their degree in Piemonte’s Experimental Center of cinematography. The animated short film uses the power of colours to tell the biographical experience of two boys, Aliou and Afif, immigrated in Italy, who are soon united by that international language, without cultural or linguistic barriers, which is music. The short film Şeker Gıda (The sugar grocer) is one of the competing short films characterized by a pretty dark tone: in less than fifteen minutes, Turkish director Ferman Narin shows how a frightening escalation of events and misunderstandings can trample even the most monotonous of days, such as that of the protagonist Salih, until it becomes the worst and most brutal day of his life. Every choice involves a loss, and Polish director Damian Kosowski in his Zanim Zasne (By the time I fall asleep) shows the inability to manage and bear the consequences of one’s decisions. Here, the tragedy of disease is shown through the eyes of the caregiver: the daughter who helps her mother in the last steps of her life.
The fourth short film is Aida, by the Lebanese director Hanane Abi Khalil. The movie features the main character, an independent girl, who couldn’t care less about prejudices and other people’s gossip, who decides to overcome her sorrowful past with the sudden decision of getting married. She wants to celebrate the triumph of life over death, because – in her own words- ‘’ a loveless life is meaningless’’. The movie is dedicated to all the strong women who want to take control of their own lives, and live it to the fullest. The following screening is Europa (Europe) by Lucas del Fresno, which tells the story of Pedro, a foreigner working abroad in Switzerland, who finds out that his mother is hospitalized in Spain. He is entrusted with the task of bringing a cow called Europe to the slaughter, but he is too late, and ends up on a journey that reflects his suffering and which ends with the acceptance of the pain and his choice to return to his normal life. The Macedonian Ana Andonova’s short film is called Malechka (Little One), and it tells the tale of Keti, a little girl who lives in a particularly severe and hostile family environment, which doesn’t allow her to choose her own friendships and forces her older sister into a loveless marriage. Keti is only a child, but she embodies all the courageous women who fight the traditions that force them to play the submissive role in society.
