Yesterday the fourth edition of the Traveling Film Festival – Viaggio al Centro della Terra came to an end. It was an edition full of high-quality works, but also of special side events such as daily location scouting, yoga, music (the wonderful concert by Safir Nou) and cinema on the beach, without forgetting the tastings in collaboration with Slow Food Italia and Babeuf, who took us on zero-kilometer culinary "journeys".
This year, many guests generously shared new insights with the Andaras audience: actress Giulia Arena, who presented the M.A.R.E. project by One Ocean Foundation, Chef Rubio and Daniela Bruni, who brought to Andaras their independent study "Migrants' food on their journey from Africa to Italy in the 21st century", and Paola Catapano and Mike Struik, with the documentary Nanuq, which follows the important expedition that circumnavigated the Svalbard archipelago, where the crew carried out some samples of microplastics.
It is an increasingly exciting journey which, during this edition, has strenghtened the presence of the Andaras Traveling Film Festival as a cultural reference for an entire territory. "An opportunity to show the beauty and intellectual ferment of the area, which – says Marco Corrias, creator of the festival and Mayor of Fluminimaggiore – proves to be a place for international cultural events. It stimulates the exchange of ideas and experiences between the audience and the guests, who interact directly with each other during the interviews and alongside the screenings." Likewise, the Mayor of Buggerru, Laura Cappelli, is very happy: "If last year Andaras for Buggerru represented a challenge, this year it represents a certainty. For the farsightedness of the project and for the public success, we are extremely honoured to host two days of the festival, where places and stories met in a wonderful background. Today, more than ever, I believe that synergies, collaboration and connections with the territory are fundamental for the revival of tourism". "This year – says the artistic director Joe Juanne Piras – we raised the bar from an organisational point of view, adding new locations and side events alongside the film screenings. There were live music concerts on the beach, and larger screens in outdoor locations, like temples dedicated to the environment which need to be approached with sacred respect. We are also happy about the significant increase in relationships between distributors, directors and producers that took place during Andaras". Maria Paola Pisanu, president of the Andaras Cultural Association, is also happy about the results. She points out the experiential element of the festival, "capable of stimulating the audience's minds through a refined and international film selection, guests and debates on the great social issues concerning human rights and the environment; and also capable of emotionally involve anyone who takes part in the festival with immersive experiences in the territory's indisputable beauty and the genuineness of its products".
The fourth edition of Andaras Traveling Film Festival was dedicated to the journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani, who was able to talk about the world breaking free from the mold and not being afraid to change his ideas.
Here are the winning films:
BEST SUPER SHORT
LE MONADI di Stefano Virgilio Cipressi / Italy
A very delicate and intimate film, intense despite being so short. The different still frames convey the idea of the mental cage in which the grandfather is trapped, but at the same time evoke a reality with a movement of its own. Somehow, the film is flowing differently, just like the life of its protagonist, whose condition is captured so clearly with a few poetic brush strokes.
BEST DOCU-SHORT
L'ASINO CHE VOLA di Marco Piantoni / Italy
Thanks to the simplicity of the narrative and directing system, The flying donkey is able to successfully pursue its dissemination purposes.
The story of a man, a nation, a world, which, although far away, become a metaphor for the entire human condition; reminding us that the yearning for freedom is and always will be vital.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
LILI ALONE di Zou Jing / Italy
The delicacy of the story drags the viewer on a dreamlike journey, which makes them an apathetic witness to an event that is, at times, unsustainable due to its brutality. An aesthetic research based on discipline makes the frame and photography rich but never rhetorical, therefore capable of moving without narrating the emotions.
BEST ANIMATION
OLD HAG di Julie Rembauville, Nicolas Bianco-Levrin / France
A hilarious journey into a dark and threatening nature to find the entity that will solve the protagonist's biggest problem. He is ready to do anything to get rid of an oppressing presence in his life.
But nothing is for free, and the price to pay is realizing that one can never escape their own demons.
BEST ANDARAS NOAS - NUOVI SENTIERI
WARSHA di Dania Bdeir / Lebanon
The breath-taking story of a man who, in order to be free to express himself, finds a way to take refuge in the most absurd and terrifying places. A film that makes you tremble and scream with joy. It is shot in such an extraordinary way that it leaves the viewer wondering: "How did they do it?". A truly unique short film.
PREMIO SPECIALE ANDARAS
PUSHING THE LIMITS di Pablo Hernán Aulita / Argentina
An extremely motivating and moving documentary, with a very clear and powerful message. It is an amazing story of strong will, courage and passion told through tactful and very respectful eyes. The spontaneity of the protagonist adds to the intimate atmosphere created and his motto comes through even louder. It is not only a remarkable work, but also the exemplification of the inner meaning of travelling: pushing your limits always further to discover more about yourself, the world and inspire others.
PREMIO SPECIALE DELLA GIURIA
YOU CAN'T AUTOMATE ME di Katarina Jazbec / Netherlands
With a mesmerizing and intriguing series of shots, You Can’t Automate Me offers a curious insight into the unknown life of lashers. A parade of loosely-connected personal stories, bodies and stowaway animals give a human touch to the alienating work environment portrayed and fuse into a story that is innovative, creative and meditative at the same time.
BEST GAZES FROM THE WORLD
SHERO di Claudio Casale / Italy
The subject could have been approached with a lot of rhetoric, but the work should be rewarded for the way the protagonist is presented and for choosing a non-intrusive and delicate angle. These are the elements that give the film strength and dignity. Its aesthetic coincides with the dramaturgy, and it wisely sends a message to the world which must be supported and heard.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FOOD
THE PITCH di Eno Freedman Brodmann / United States
With an infinite, swirling, imaginative phantasmagoria of forms and languages, it makes us reflect on our contemporaneity: fluid, inconsistent, permeable, which subordinates reality to the construction of one of the manypossible, ephemeral stories that describe it. With great narrative ability, technical expertise and formal effectiveness, he shows the glowing creative process that can influence perception and manipulate people's minds as they are reduced to customers: consumers of devalued food, which is nothing but a commodity.
BEST DOCU-SHORT FOOD
GOODBYE STRAWBERRY di Haroon Habib / Pakistan
It is a poetic, delicate and never rhetorical tale, which innocently looks at the succession of the seasons, both in nature and in life. Being simple, not simplistic, it's about home, food education and humanity. By adapting its clear expressive purpose to technicalities, and being deliberately domestic and shot by a smartphone, it appears as a family memory. However, it is impossible to forget, just like the scent of strawberries on summer tables.
BEST CHILDREN OF THE EARTH
AT NIGHT THERE WERE STARS di Gabriele Meloni, Giovanni Pintus / Italy
Because it will be up to them, to today's young people, to save the world from the mistakes made by our grandparents and fathers; and because we can draw hope for the future from the contrast between the child's naive optimism and the old man's gloomy scepticism.
BEST DOCU EARTH SHORT
THE RESILIENT di Julie Lunde Lillesæter / Norway
For the clarity of the message, for the ability to compare distant yet increasingly similar realities which face drought and extreme weather phenomena, for the exposure of a climate change that puts even safe areas at risk.
BEST NARRATIVE EARTH SHORT
FOOTSTEPS ON THE WIND di Maya Sanbar, Gustavo Leal, Faga Melo / Brazil
For arousing emotions, empathy and awareness of the most disturbing global emergencies of the last decade - climate change and divisions - through the beauty of music and the magical wonder of animation.
MENZIONI SPECIALI
BIG di Daniele Pini / Italy
For the ability to present a character in a way that stimulates empathy and solidarity, which will accompany the viewer during the unfolding of a derelict existence; and for knowing how to overturn the narrative showing an unexpected and dark side of that same character, transforming the film into a surprising revenge movie.
TRUMPETS IN THE SKY di Rakan Mayasi / France
The fascinating story of a woman on the eve of her arranged marriage, told without any dialogue, through an authentic and moving narrative. It is precisely the total lack of dialogue that reinforces the central theme: the impossibility for women to have a voice and decide for their own future. It's a condition in which many women find themselves today.
THE LOOK di Mehran Ghorbani / Islamic Republic of Iran
A simple and linear narrative, despite the poetic urgency it wants to share. Education is important but it's essential that it makes you dream and elevate yourself in the best possible way. Moreover, it is a beautiful tribute to Abbas Kiarostami's poetics, not only as far as aesthetics is concerned, but also for the way the characters are outlined and the stories unfold.
LOST KINGS di Brian Lawes / United States
It is a vivid account of some of the most intangible evils suffered by mankind in the era of digitalization: loneliness and bewilderment. Such themes are exposed by the subjects, shots and the excellent interpretation of the actors, who have well documented how food, in a society deprived of the sense of community, where relationships break apart and dissolve, no longer represents a profound connection between man and the earth, but rather a commodity to be exploited. The film's ending carries an extraordinary human and interior value, and the last meal embodies a hope of salvation for humankind.
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