FOCUS SUI VIDEOGAME AL TRIESTE SCIENCE+FICTION FESTIVAL
Videogames, stories of the territory and perspectives of the local gaming industry enrich the program of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, a historic event dedicated to science fiction.
The Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, the most important Italian event dedicated to science fiction, scheduled in the Julian capital from 27 October to 1 November, will this year give ample space to video games, with three days entirely dedicated to the video game sector and its relationships with the territory and artificial intelligence.
We start with the IVIPRO DAYS, the annual Italian event dedicated to video games as a resource for describing the territory and the cultural heritage promoted by the IVIPRO Association and the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, which returns to Trieste for the second consecutive year. On 27 and 28 October there will be lectures and round tables, with the aim of raising awareness, disseminating and sharing experiences and best practices. During the two days of IVIPRO DAYS we will talk about dystopia and politics; of soundscapes and sci-fi worlds; of summer mirages, Maltese adventures and shooters set in Italy. There is also space for video games at school and for virtual reality, both from a historical and tourist perspective. A focus will be on the work of critics and content creators. The winners will also be announced IVIPRO Award 2023 for the best degree theses on video games. To conclude the two days, the screening of “Knit’s Island”, a feature film shot within the digital and post-apocalyptic world of DayZ.
The 2023 edition will be held in the conference room of the DoubleTree by Hilton Trieste, in Piazza della Repubblica 1. The event, with free admission upon registration while places last, it is aimed at anyone interested in learning more about the educational opportunities of the video game.
On Sunday 29 October, as part of the Fantastic Film Forum, Press Start to Play will be held, a round table on the video game industry, aimed at professional operators and focused on the state and prospects of the sector at a local level (Friuli and Triveneto plus in general). The event intends to make an initial point on a local audiovisual sector that is still quite submerged, to highlight its characteristics, critical issues and needs, and to compare it with the sector’s reference bodies at a regional and national level. In addition to a group of video game developers and local companies operating in the sector, the event will see the participation of the FVG Audiovisual Fund, the Film Commissions of Veneto and Friuli and IIDEA – Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association, the trade association of video game industry in Italy.
The round table will be held at the Casa del Cinema of Trieste, in Piazza Duca degli Abruzzi 3, and is free to enter while seats last; all operators in the sector (or aspiring operators) in the area are invited to participate.
Following this, again on Sunday 29 October, there will be a meeting with Tom Paton, pioneer of the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the production of audiovisuals with his company Pigeon Shrine. The English producer and director will take stock of a technology that offers enormous potential but which is still viewed with considerable distrust, and how AI can actually optimize the timing and methods of audiovisual production, allowing costs to be reduced and also guaranteeing independent products have a visual and production quality equal to that of the Hollywood majors.
This meeting will also take place at Casa del Cinema. Both of these last two events are part of the program of the Fantastic Film Forum, the industry section of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, which every year brings together professionals and guests of the festival in a program of specialist meetings, networking events and workshops. The 2023 edition of the Fantastic Film Forum will take place at Casa del Cinema from 28 to 31 October.