The Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC), the independent section organised by the Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani (SNCCI) within the 80. Venice International Film Festival (30 August – 9 September 2023), unveiled its awards today 8 September.
The international jury composed of Baloji, Ava Cahen and Bianca Oana awarded the IWONDERFULL Grand Prize to Malqueridas by Tana Gilbert. Their statement reads: “Because its subject is vertiginous, because its formal approach is masterful, a radical gesture that makes the off-screen come to life and shows us only the details, the blurred image, the stolen pixels. Narrative and set-up are at the service of the witnesses. The director puts us side by side with the incarcerated women, without passing any judgment on their value, and this is a prowess of cinema’s poetic license”.
Malqueridas also received the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution, assigned jurors by Matteo Bernardini, Marco Contino, Raffaella Giancristofaro.
To Hoard by Luna Carmoon goes The Film Club Audience Award with an average of 4.5/5.00, and the Verona Film Club Award for most innovative film, assigned by an under-35 jury consisting in Luca Fron, Federico Mango, Alessia Origano, Lorenzo Zampini, Marika Zandanel: “You asked us to soil ourselves, to swallow our securities and radically subvert the concept of waste. At that point we understood: only by sinking our hands into a dump of objects, memories and emotions can this accumulation be transformed into a home.”
The international jury has moreover given two special mentions to Saura Lightfoot Leon for her performance in Hoard by Luna Carmoon and to Ariane Labed, one of the main characters in The Vourdalak by Adrien Beau. The statements read: “We were blown away by the charisma and talent of Hoard’s lead actress, Saura Lightfoot Leon, and we wanted to salute her brilliant debut.”
“Her presence is still haunting us. The jury would like to highlight Ariane Labed’s performance in The Vourdalak for its precision, grace and composure, and for portraying a marginalized female character with force and dignity.”
Tana Gilbert is a Chilean filmmaker whose short documentaries received awards in several festivals. Her first feature film is a collective story put together with footage illegally recorded by inmates in a Chilean female prison. Mothers who must serve long sentences are separa...
Luna Carmoon is a self-taught film director. Her works are notable for their penchant for the absurd and strong autobiographical elements. “This film is me, the ugly parts of me as well as the beautiful parts of me. I want to make people feel something” said Carmoo...
The film, directed and interpreted by Adrien Beau, is adapted from gothic novella The Family of the Vourdalak by Aleksey K. Tolstoy. Old Gorcha begs his family to put off their travels for six days. If he won’t be back by the sixth day, it means he has been killed in battle....
SIC@SIC awards
Within the 8. edition of SIC@SIC (Short Italian Cinema @ Settimana Internazionale della Critica), the jury – composed of the three film professionals Nicoletta Romeo, Eddie Bertozzi, Matteo Tortone -, awarded the following titles out of the seven in competition:
Best Short Film Award
to Las memorias perdidas de los árboles by Antonio La Camera
“For creating a sensory experience, a hallucinogenic journey, a psychedelic vertigo. But above all for leading us on an intense emotional exploration which moves and marvels us, transcending the natural element all the way to the all-too-human heart of suffering and loss.”
Best Director Award
to La linea del terminatore by Gabriele Biasi
“For the formal approach with which the director conveys a coherent and poetic vision of a refined and above all human cinema through the selection of public and private archive material, juxtaposing spiritual and emotional preparations with distant and inner journeys.”
Best Technical Contribution Award
to We Should All Be Futurists by Angela Norelli
“Through meticulous research into archive materials, a biting narration, an engaging irony and comedy, this short film provides a twist on the bellicose and macho rhetoric, constructing a light-hearted tale of individual liberation.”
