War and ecology, the future of the planet and friendship. The winning films have been proclaimed among the 53 short films in competition at the international festival “Catch the moon”, which for the whole week, at the end of a complex workshop path in the schools of the eastern area of Naples, proposed screenings, debates and exhibitions in the seat of ART33 and at the Calamandrei high school auditorium. Selected from a shortlist of around 1,000 submissions from 19 different countries, from Iran to India, from Canada to the United States, with a large representation of the best of Made in Italy, the films were divided into two categories (one dedicated to professionals and one to animation film school students) and judged by a technical jury and a jury made up of over 700 students.
THE AWARDS OF THE TECHNICAL JURY
“Yallah!”, a film by Nayla Nassar, Edouard Pitula, Renaud de Saint Albin, Cécile Adant, Anaïs Sassatelli, Candice Behague (France), won in the “Student” category, dedicated to animation film school students. The short is set in Beirut in 1982: while Nicolas prepares to flee his hometown, torn apart by an interminable civil war, he crosses the path of Naji, a reckless teenager determined to go swimming. Trying to protect the young man, Nicolas finds himself drawn into a surreal race against the war, all for one simple freedom: to go swimming. In the same category, a special mention for “My crow don’t know to fish” by the Indian Divakar Kuppan.
In the “Professional” category, the technical jury awarded “Dove il stone will fall”, a stop motion animated film by Beatrice Pucci, already a special mention at the Imaginaria 2022 festival: starting from a stone that falls into the pond – with the prince he finds himself, in spite of himself, tied to a frog named Gerda – the work investigates the alliance with other species, the authentic relationship with nature and the redemption of disadvantaged social classes.
THE FILMS CHOSEN BY THE STUDENTS
The popular jury, made up largely of school students from the eastern area of the city of Naples, instead awarded the very delicate short film “My dog ate the moon” by the French Adrien Anastasy, Cassandra Calvo, Nina Clavel, Maya Dumond, Shane Lambert, Florian Pardanaud: The film tells the story of a young girl, Noah, who meets Taiga, a puppy. A great friendship develops between them, but Noah gradually turns his attention to the moon: the short tells of Taiga’s jealousy, and her attempts to win back the woman. The moon is singularly the common thread also of the short runner-up for the student jury, “Swing the moon” by the French Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero, Solenne Moreau Third, “The Child and the Goose”, also in this case a French short, directed by Jade Chastan, Alice Failla, Jérôme Ginesta, Justine Hermetz, Sophie Lafleur, Vincent Lenne.
All the finalist films are available for free streaming on the Cineteca di Milano website (from 4 to 11 May, www.cinetecamilano.it).