Yesterday ended the 3rd edition of Andaras Traveling film Festival – all the taste of travel, from screenings to tastings every day in a different place, along the wonderful Costa delle Miniere, between Fluminimaggiore and Buggerru.
The program of Andaras was enriched by meetings with artists, actors, photographers, film-makers, reporter, in a continuous exchange of experiences with people that place the travel at the centre of their artistic career: the award-winning photographer Shobha, the Sardinian actress Enrica Pintore, Pangea Onlus Foundation, the director Matteo Incollu e the actor Felice Montervino. Valuable was the speech of the iranian director Mahan Khomamipour, that attended the festival with his film Simulation of Mr. Yellow, filmed entirely in Aleppo during ISIS’s occupation.
The organization unanimously expressed the satisfaction, starting from the creator of Andaras, and mayor of Fluminimaggiore, Marco Corrias: “The success of the 3rd edition of Andaras confirms that our territory is an elected place for international cultural events. The selection of the film in competition, that saw works from all over the world, including some films from the most prestigious festivals of Cinema, convinced the public that was delighted by Slow Food’s proposals. A collaboration that is only the starting point of a journey that will make Fluminimaggiore one of the destination of the new project SlowFood Travel".
“This third edition – adds the artistic director Joe Juanne Piras – has gone beyond expectation. Our guests, the jury, directors who came to visit us participated with the public not only for the screenings but also for the Andaras Experience, extra activities like location scouting, tastings, beach yoga and workshop of photography. This proves that the Cinema is an experience that goes beyond the on-screen storytelling, and involves the public and the territory”.
Positive outcome also for Maria Paola Pisanu, President of Associazione Culturale Andaras who concludes: “Through the Cinema offer we managed once again to highlight our territory and his natural beauties, landscapes, archeology and great food. We can’t wait to get to work for the next edition”.
The third edition of Andaras Traveling Film Festival was dedicated to an historical figure who contributed to change the idea of travel, the American aviator Amelia Earhart, who in 1928 was the first to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, entering into the legend.
Here are the winning works:
BEST SUPER SHORT
LEO by Moein Rooholamini / Islamic Republic of Iran
For the ability to combine talent, intelligence, sensitivity, pathos, interpretation and the ability to surprise in sixty seconds. In one minute one enters the story of Leo's report which gets brutally interrupted by a guard’s baton. It takes the viewer from a dimension of childish play with the shower receiver transformed into a microphone to the brutal, barren, desperate, obtuse reality of a football game played in a refugee camp. The net pursued by Messi in the words of the aspiring Pizzul becomes once again the fencing net of a tented camp in the middle of the desert.
It is a harsh metaphor, a brutal awakening from dream to reality for the budding commentator and his very young blind companion, an effective wake up call for us viewers, a warning about the condition of so many kids who also share our modern heroes. However, they remain on the margins, they starve and are excluded.
BEST DOCU-SHORT
NOBODY DIES HERE by Simon Panay / France
A thoughtful film. A work that does not embellish the reality it tells: the gold mine of Perma, in Benin. It doesn’t add too many cutesy images or too much information, but rather creates a sense of humanity that inhabits that reality, and illuminates its places through unusual angles. An objective tale of fortunes, misfortunes, daily challenges to survive at work, and death. The discovery of gold can be both heroism or condemnation. Simon Panay, the director, is non-judgmental and able to expose himself, while leaving the viewer in a state of suspension, in which they have to listen to the normality that he paints. A normality which he declines with grace and gentle irony.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
SO WHAT IF THE GOATS DIE by Sofia Alaoui / France
This is the story of a worldwide event, seen from the point of view of the inhabitants of a remote place, one that is far from the classic sci-fi cinamatographic imagery. It’s also the story of the relationship between a father and a son, which pits two distant generations against each other.
This is a movie that asks the question: what happens when our unshakable beliefs are blown away by an explosive event, which transforms them into old-fashioned prejudices? To what extent would we be able to withstand such a shock wave?
BEST ANIMATION
SONG SPARROW by Farzaneh Omidvarnia / Islamic Republic of Iran
The director has chosen to narrate the most dramatic journey with the outmost care and attention to details: it’s the story of a group of migrants, who start their journey full of expectations and hopes, admist dances and songs, and it ends in tragedy.
For the care and attention to detail with which the director has chosen to narrate the most dramatic journey: that of a group of migrants, who leave full of expectations and hopes, amidst dances and songs, and ends in tragedy. A refrigerated truck is used as a backdrop: bloody quarters hanging like wings, the contrast between the music and the carefree air of the cynical driver and people in panic as they are locked in the back of the truck. Everything is accurate and detailed. The fact that the performers are dolls does not detract from the drama and pathos of the narration. The film is inspired by a true story, and the viewers experience a crescendo of emotions as they realize the frightening ending. The discovery of the only surviving baby in the belly of one of the transported animal carcasses is the final twist that brings hope.
BEST ANDARAS NOAS – NEW PATHS
THE VAN by Erenik Beqiri / France
For the ability to tell an underprivileged man’s search for freedom in an elegant but never softened way. A young man who sacrifices his skin, bones, veins and finally his beloved father for his journey. While the journey remains a distant hope, the viewer is dragged into a spiral of emotions that expose many of the founding archetypes of Western culture. Both the protagonist and the viewers are left asking themselves the most relevant questions of all: What is a man?
The darkness at the end of the film reflects the tragedy of having to answer such a question and dealing with an unimaginable choice.
SPECIAL ANDARAS AWARD
UNO by Javier Marco Rico / Spain
The film takes the complexity of Greek tragedy and combines it with the simplicity of modern narrative. The space-time unity and the linearity of the symbols displayed (the fishing boat, the phone, the water), together with the fisher’s language, create a dramaturgical balance which keeps the viewer constantly emotional and sincerely interested in the fate of the characters. The film manages to transform the simplicity of the theme of the journey into a profound anthropological inspection. From the Homerian “Nostos” to the contradictions and paradoxes of modern society, the film manages to capture the viewer’s imagination, doing justice to the tragedy of immigration that has never been as relevant as today.
JURY SPECIAL PRIZE
“Le Syndrome d’Archibald” by Daniel Perez / France
A film about visions and a vision, which highlights the power of the community even if it’s made by only two individuals who really see each other, accept both their similarities and differences, and transform a flaw into a virtue. The protagonist’s bitterness comes from his strange superpowers which bring him more embarrassments than advantages, and everyone who’s not able to accept their own flows can relate to that feeling. The film combines a Quentin Tarantinoish soundtrack, western film landscapes and a delicate yet fun tribute to the adventure journey on the road. It is a redemption journey: Archibald finds in the solitary Indiana someone who accepts his true self and shares his diversity. Through this brilliantly comic film Daniel Perez invites the viewers to see flaws as superpowers.
BEST GAZES FROM THE WORLD
ONE HOUR TO BANAUE by Mario Oliva Gomez / Spain
For the ability to transform a journey into a sensory experience through the use of sounds; for the cinematography that allows the viewer to live the story firsthand; and for the creative editing that masterfully matches the music with all kinds of emotions and scenarios.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FOOD
CRU by David Oesch / Switzerland
For the ability to involve the viewers in the story and make them experience the tension that a haute cuisine restaurant team lives every day. For the subjects chosen and the succession of shots which narrate the chef’s hard work and high level performance in a realistic way, showing what’s behind a plate.
BEST DOCU-SHORT FOOD
THROUGH THE LENS by Costanza La Bruna / Italy
For the ability to speak the truth, to tell stories about genuine people, hard work and sense of belonging: the identity of a community is linked to the cultivation of lentils and the knowledge, traditions, customs and stories that come from it. For showing that farmers are the true custodians of our planet’s biodiversity, which we are destroying on a daily basis. Doing things well requires hard work and shared effort. We thank the film for reminding us of that.
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
JOSEBA CRUZ by Aleix Vilardebó / Spain
For being able to capture the fascinating story of a traveling cook and engage the viewers in a few minutes. Interesting elements of the film are the narrating voice, the cinematography and the contrast between the wild nature and the haute cuisine plates.
THE CHOP by Lewis Rose / United Kingdom
For exposing and deconstructing the stereotypes linked to people and cultural belongings in an ironic way. The Chop deals with the conflict between Jews and Arabs in such a way that you would think that things can change starting from a laugh. A well-structured and entertaining film with good actors.
Christian Petaroscia - INVERNO by Giulio Mastromauro / Italy
For the mature and powerful words and silences. For the young protagonist, Christian Petaroscia.
LES AIGLES DE CARTHAGE by Adriano Valerio / Italy
A football match unites a country like never before. An unprecedented victory that remains in the memory of those who watched it at the stadium, in their houses or in a distant country. The stories of the protagonists celebrate their country and the power of football that both unites the entire people and becomes a real family legacy passed down through generations.
The final image of the dictator who tries to take credit for the victory and doesn’t let go off the cup while the players are celebrating, becomes the premonition of what will happen 7 years later. A revolution will start in Tunisia and spread to a great part of the Arab world, forcing the dictator to surrender his power and leave the country.
Enrica Mura - L’ULTIMA HABANERA by Carlo Licheri / Italy
For interpreting Bruna’s tormented and nonconformist soul with style and personality: a character who finds herself stuck between pride and disappointments. For the Sardinian version of Carmen.
SLOW by Giovanni Boscolo, Daniele Nozzi / Italy
Like La casa de papel the film stages with lightness and irony the diabolic revenge of a group of elderly people in a hectic world.
I’M AFRAID TO FORGET YOU FACE by Sameh Alaa / Egypt
For the ambitious authorial research demonstrated through an accurate and careful composition of the shots and the rhythm of the images that remind us of poetry.
SIMULATION OF Mr. YELLOW by Mahan Khomamipour / Islamic Republic of Iran
For telling us an intimate story, of resistance and courage, that become a window through which participate in an universal tale. For the ability to seek the beauty even in places where the war destroyed everything, and for telling us a story of great resistance.