The announcement of this year's winners decreed the conclusion of the fifth edition of the Andaras Traveling Film Festival 2023.
During the event, which took place from 11 to 15 July along the splendid “The Mining Coast” between the towns of Fluminimaggiore, Buggerru and Iglesias, the prizes were awarded by an exceptional jury chaired by Valentina Lodovini.
The theme of this edition, named "Traveling Light", invited the participants to move around carrying only the essentials and leaving behind the weights that threaten the present.
Among the 27 finalists were works that tell intimate and personal stories, but they also provide a raw look at a world that offers little hope to the new generations, while retaining the promise of a better future. This journey towards a new unexplored model of humanity makes quality time the real treasure to bring back home.
Andaras Traveling Film Festival continues to excite the audience and the organizers. In this edition, the cooperation among the locals was further consolidated, with itinerant screenings held every evening in marvelous and unexplored places along the Mining Coast, such as Porto Flavia in Masua in Iglesias, Fluminimaggiore and Buggerru. Thanks to that, it was possible to showcase and enhance the beauty of those places which served as a natural backdrop for the events and screenings of the festival.
The creator of the Andaras Traveling Film Festival, Marco Corrias, former mayor of Fluminimaggiore, underlines the cultural role of the festival as a driving force for the local economy and as an effective tool to counter the risk of depopulation of the villages.
Artistic director Joe Juanne Piras describes this as an endurance edition that overcame challenges and improved organization and attendance, introducing new locations and offering live music concerts on the beach and screenings in the great outdoors.
Maria Paola Pisanu, president of the Associazione Culturale Andaras, underlines the experiential element of the festival, which stimulates the minds of the audience through a selection of sought-after and international films, guests and debates on the major social issues such as human rights and the environment. The festival emotionally engages the participants through immersive experiences in the undeniable beautiful area and the authenticity of its products.
Andaras Traveling Film Festival, an event conceived by Marco Corrias and artistically directed by Joe Juanne Piras, was created in collaboration with the town of Fluminimaggiore, Fondazione di Sardegna, Associazione Andaras and the towns of Buggerru and Iglesias, and the FAI patronage.
The event was organized by the Association of local institutions for cultural and entertainment activities, with the participation of the Consortium of the Historical and Environmental Geomining Park of Sardinia, the Santa Barbara Mining Path Foundation and Società Umanitaria.
The jury, composed of the president Valentina Lodovini, the international actress Monica Nappo and the founder of Premiere Film Distribution Saverio Pesapane, proclaimed the winners in each category:
Best Super Short: "Monster" by Henk Loorbach (fiction and documentary short films up to 180 seconds). The short film was praised for the courage of its unusual shots and message, which challenges a society that always wants to portray women as fit, even when they are sick.
Best Docu Short: "Riley & Rambo" by Danny Hardaker (non-fiction short films up to 30 minutes). This micro-documentary focuses on an intimate relationship between a child and his horse with realism and poetry. It sheds light on the English gypsy community, which is usually marginalised and viewed with suspicion in English society.
Best Gazes from the World 2023: "Urgent letter to Colombia" by Alberto Diana (experimental, fiction and documentary short films up to 20 minutes). The short film was praised for for managing, in just a few minutes, to make the world understand what leads to a coup d'état, police repression, fear and the courage of ordinary people living or trying to survive it all. For doing it without rhetoric, but speaking with love through a personal story, using a simple and original cinematographic language.
Best Animation: "A Guerra Finita" by Simone Massi (animated short films up to 15 minutes). This short animated film takes us into all the wars of the world through the evocative power of its images. It is an immersion that aims at resurfacing. It is a whirling and painful ride inside the worst of human activities. Then, thanks to the words of Gino Strada, it brings you towards the utopia of a world without war.
Best Narrative Short 2023: "Datsun" by Mark Albiston (fiction short films up to 25 minutes). The short film stood out for its excellent photography, acting and direction, offering a detailed reconstruction of both environments and the spirit of a group of teenagers. For managing to tell, with strength and depth, how contradictory our feelings are, especially for what we love.
Best Andaras Noas – New Paths 2023: "Rites" by Damián Vondrášek (fiction stories up to 25 minutes, about the beginning of a journey). The short film explores childhood as tas the time in life when one comes out of the family shell and gets in touch with the outside world. It tells the desire to be accepted and the fear of being excluded, how far we are willing to go to be part of the desired group.
Special prizes were also awarded during the event. The Special Jury Prize was awarded to Hugo Sanz's "Solo un ensayo", while the Andaras Special Prize was awarded to Shuli Huang's "Will You Look At Me".
Honorable mentions were also awarded to Giulia Camba's "Eréntzia", "CUCKOO!" by Jörgen Scholtens and "Dionewar Solidarité" by Ilja Mlosch.