Now in its twenty-second edition, the ShorTS International Film Festival will screen eighty-one short films from forty-four different countries for the competitive section Maremetraggio
Among the most awarded titles in the main international festivals during the last year, titles such as Nina by Hristo Simeonov, a Bulgarian short nominated for the European Film Awards 2020 that tells of a thirteen-year-old girl who wants to escape from the bullying Vassil, who would like to turn her into a pickpocket; Marlon brando by Vincent Tilanus, directly from the Netherlands, among the shorts of the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes 2020 and in the running for the EFA 2021, which tells of the fraternal friendship between two teenagers and how their plans for the future could crack it; the 2021 Belgian-Ghanaian Oscar nominee titled Da Yie, by Anthony Nti, the story of two very young boys struggling with a ruthless world; the Egyptian short I am afraid to forget your face, by Sameh Alaa, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and the first film in the country to have entered the short film competition in fifty years; the Vietnamese A trip to Heaven, by Linh Duong, who takes us on a bus along the Mekong Delta where a woman meets an old love of youth; Pilgrims, by Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi, directly from Turkey, which tells of two children brothers who come down to transgress their father’s will and leave for Istanbul in search of their mother.
Among the Italian short films, we will find Gas Station, by Olga Torrico from Caserta in the role of director and interpreter of the short film that in Venice won the SIC @ SIC Short Italian Cinema Award as the best technical contribution; from the selection of Alice in the city comes Ape Regina, by Nicola Sorcinelli, which brings to the screen a story of solidarity and acceptance; The technique, by Clemente De Muro and Davide Mardegan, presented at the Leeds International Film Festival and at the Turin Film Festival, which deals with the theme of first love; The border is a wood, by the Friulian director Giorgio Milocco and produced by the Quasar company, also from Friuli, and selected at the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival, a story of physical and emotional boundaries, told through the story of a man on the threshold of old age who lives far from the its homeland. The protagonist is Ivan, a sixty-year-old worker, born in the former Yugoslavia, who lives with his wife in a small town in Friuli called Torviscosa. One day he decides to embark on a journey that will take him back to the places of his childhood, in an attempt to atone for a sense of guilt that he carries within himself since he was a child.
As for animated films, we will find the French short in competition Sheep, Wolf and A Cup of tea, by Marion Lacourt, who recreates the dream world of childhood through 2D animation; Italian Solitaire, by Edoardo Natoli, who tells a moving story of loneliness in stop-motion; Your own bullshit, by Daria Kopiec, a playful and poetic Polish short always created with the stop-motion technique.
ShorTS International Film Festival 2021: the complete list of all the short films in the competition
500 Calories
by Cristina Spina
Italy, United States of America
54 / The Blind Turtle and the Endless Sea
by Isabella Margara
Greece
To nowhere
Into Nothingness
by Manu Manrique
Spain
Fascinating
by Elisa Baccolo
Italy
Al-Sit
di Suzannah Mirghani
Sudan, Qatar
Men are hungry too
Men Are Hungry Too
by Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso, Andrea Settembrini
Italy
Ape Regina
Queen Bee
by Nicola Sorcinelli
Italy
Species-appropriate
Organic Love
at Carly Coco Schrader
Germany
Aura
di Chun Chun Chang
United States of America
Balkanika
by Lu Pulici
Italy
Bambirak
of Zamarin Wahdat
Germany
Cayenne
by Simon Gionet
Canada
Charon
by Yannick Karcher
France
The Cloud Is Still There
by Mickey Lai
Malaysia
The border is a wood
My Border, My Forest
by Giorgio Milocco
Italy
Cris Superstar
di Guillermo Fernández Groizard
Spain
Da Yiedi
Anthony Nti
Ghana, Belgium
Yes-Dzma
A Sister and a Brother
by Jaro Minne
Georgia, Belgium
Dante. Beatrice
at Iryna Kodjukova
Belarus
David
di Zach Woods
United States of America
Day-in Day-out
di Anna Turkish
Hungary
The two assholes
The Two Idiots
at Thibault Segouin
France
Tell me yes
Tell Me Yes
from Sophie Clavaizolle
France
Dye Red
by Vittoria Campaner
United States of America, Italy
Eggshell
di Ryan William Harris
Ireland, Italy
Between you and Milagros
Between You and Milagros
by Mariana Saffon Ramírez
Colombia
Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss
by Sonny Calvento
Philippines
The explosion of a bathing ring
The Explosion of a Swimming Ring
di Tommi Seitajoki
Finland
Ferrotipos
di Nüll García
Spain
Gas Station
by Olga Torrico
Italy
The big wave
The Big Wave
by Francesco Tortorella
Italy
I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face
di Sameh Alaa
Egypt, France, Belgium, Qatar
Interstate 8
by Anne Thieme
Germany, United States of America
It’s Desmond (Your Misguided Tour Guide)
by Daniela Di Salvo
Canada
Me and my rough ass
My Fat Arse and I
of Yelyzaveta Pysmak
Poland
Jeep Boys
by Alec Pronovost
Canada
Kilt
by Rakel Ström
France
Knitting Club for Men over 40
di Egor Gavrilin
Russia
Kosher
di Gideon Imagor
Israel
Lah gah
Letting Go
by Cécile Brun
Switzerland
Magnetic
by Marco Arruda
Brazil
Marlon brando
VINCENT gods Tilanus
Netherlands
Martin fell from a roof
Martin Fell from a Roof
say Matías Ganz
France, Uruguay
Masmelos
di Duván Duque
Colombia
May I Have This Seat?
of Tabish Habib
Pakistan
Migrations
by Jerome Peters
Belgium
Navazandeh
Musician
by Mohsen Mehri Darouei
Iran
Nina
di Hristo Simeonov
Bulgaria
Perpetual night
Perpetual Night
by Pedro Peralta
Portugal, France
Number 10
by Florence Bamba
France
The oceans are the true continents
The Oceans Are the Real Continents
by Tommaso Santambrogio
Italy, Cuba
Pain
by Anna Rose Duckworth
New Zeland
Painting by Numbers
di Radheya Jegatheva
Australia
Paranoia!
di Dilek Kulekci
Turkey
Stupid
by Sebastian Torres
Mexico
Blue border
Blue Frontier
by Ivan Milosavljević
Serbia, Slovenia
Play for Everyone
di Ivan Petukhov
Russia
Plot
Cone
from Sébastien Auger
France
The Adventures of Gloria Scott – Murder in the Cathedral
The Adventures of Gloria Scott – Murder in the Cathedral
di Matija Pisačić, Tvrtko Rašpolić
Croatia, Serbia
Sad Beauty
at Arjan Brentjes
Netherlands
The wild seasons
Wild Seasons
by Nathalie Giraud
France
Sheep, Wolf and a Cup of Tea… Sheep, wolf and a cup of tea…
by Marion Lacourt
France
The silence of the river
The Silence of the River
by Francesca Canepa
Peru
Simulation of Mr. Yellow
di Mahan Khomamipour
Iran
WastelandWasteland
by Daniel Milton
Sweden
Solitaire
by Edoardo Natoli
Italy
Stephanie
di leonardo van dijl
Belgium
Sticker
by Georgi M. Unkovski
North Macedonia
The technique
by Clemente De Muro, Davide Mardegan
Italy
Delivery
The Delivery
di Dogus Ozocutan
Cyprus, Turkey, Syria
Heaven calls the name
A Trip to Heavendi Linh Duong
Vietnam
Does it tickle you too?
Do You Also Feel a Tingle?
by Lucia Valverde
Luxembourg
Three steps
Three Steps
by Antonello Matarazzo
Italy
Shot with lightning
Struck by Lightning
di Raul Esko, Romet Esko
Estonia
Virago
di Kerli Kirch Schneider
Estonia
Viskas geraiIt’s Alright
di Jorūnė Greičiūtė
Lithuania
Wet & Soppy
by Cliona Noonan
Ireland
Wild Grass
di Shan Wu
Taiwan Own garbage
Your Own Bullshit
di Daria Kopiec
Poland
Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother
di Stephen Irwin
UK
Passengers
Pilgrims
di Farnoosh Samadi, Ali Asgari
Turkey
ShorTS International Film Festival 2021: the awards
The eighty-one works competing in the Maremetraggio section of the ShorTS International Film Festival will compete for the prestigious award Estenergy / Hera Group for the best short film, a prize worth 5,000 euros, while the novelty will be the introduction of AcegasApsAmga award, worth 3,000 euros, for the best Italian short, awarded also this year by a jury entirely made up of employees of the group at the end of a training course that will begin on May 6 with the Masterclass of director Davide del Degan. The AMC Award for the best Italian editing and the Award assigned by the MYmovies audience.
Massimiliano Nardulli, composer and programmer who from this year will be the new curator of the Maremetraggio section, said:
I believe that the selection we are presenting, perhaps also carried by the wings of the enthusiasm of my first experience as a programmer of this historic and prestigious festival, responds to the dreams and needs that every film experience must offer to every spectator. And today more than ever it is important to feed on stories and visions from the most disparate corners of our planet.
The shorts of the Maremetraggio section will be evaluated by an international jury, composed of the German director and screenwriter Ella Cieslinski, by the Franco-Algerian actress Nadia kibout and by the director and producer Amos Geva, international manager of the Israeli online platform T-Port.