The screening and the Award Ceremony for the best film on the theme of disarmament at British Museum:
the final stage of the Festival “A Film for Peace” 2011
The International Festival “A Film for Peace” is very young - just six years old. Despite its young age, thanks to the passion and commitment of the municipality of Medea and the Windcloak Film Production, with the support of the province of Gorizia and of the Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia, this event crossed the national frontiers and become in a short time one of the biggest festivals on human rights in the world, with 34 participating countries from all five continents. Based on the conception and design of the artistic director and anthropologist Enrico Cammarata, the festival has received the support and coordination of Alberto Bergamin, Mayor of Medea.
The great challenge of the Sixth Edition 2011 was to establish a special award for the topic of disarmament for which the screening and award ceremony was scheduled to take place at the prestigious British Museum in London. The event received the support of the regional councilor for productive activities of the Friuli Venezia Giulia-TurismoFVG. The award ceremony in London was organized in collaboration with Sagitter One and London Adv.
Thanks to the efforts of the Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia, who has always showed sensitivity to the culture of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, the event was held on October 27, in the biggest temple of the world’s culture: the British Museum.
The program opened with the screening of a videoart lasting two minutes. The short film produced by the festival showed a girl striving to draw a symbol of disarmament and peace. With an unexpected gesture, the protagonist covered the soldiers (war vehicle) with a sheet of paper containing the drawing of the symbol of disarmament that she has just created. The message is one of optimism, the hope that maybe, one day, the reasoning and the best part of humanity will erase the war forever. This short videoart was followed by the greetings of the Coordinator of the festival, Alberto Bergamin, the Mayor of Medea, and the presentation of some of the cities and of the typical products of Friuli Venezia Giulia the region, products that the public could enjoy after the festival.
The day continued with an interesting report on disarmament by Dr. Marco Roscini, Reader in International Law, University of Westminster. Enrico Cammarata followed up with a speech about the festival and the cinema from an anthropological point of view.
After the screening of the film “Daisy Cutter” by Spanish directors Enrique Garcìa and Rubén Salazar, which received the Absolute Award at the festival of Medea on July 4, it was screened the winner of the Special Award for the Best Film on disarmament, entitled “Wardisease” by French director Marie Magescas, who received from Alberto Bergamin a framed scroll (parchment). The French director received also a photographic work in black and white printed on baryta paper on the issue of disarmament, signed by Bon & Cammarata, who have also exhibited a series of photographs in black and white (on baryta paper) on the topic of human rights in the foyer of Stevenson Theatre Hall of British Museum.
“Daisy Cutter” is an animation film that shows the destructive power of the Blue-82 bomb: the most destructive conventional bomb with its 7000 pounds of explosives.
The documentary “Wardisease” belongs to the genre of film editing and shows in just eight minutes the horror of war. They are images that help us reflect upon the human condition, which was capable of great things such as inventions, scientific discoveries, solidarity, but also of terrible things such as genocide, and violence beyond comprehension. Love and hate: two characters of human nature and the pillars of the psyche as defined by Sigmund Freud.
After the London experience, the 2012 edition of the festival will present other original works of interest, which will promote the collaboration between Italian and foreign universities in order to introduce to the new generations important issues leading to the building of peace between nations.
Medea 2011 Awards
On July 1 at the Palazzo del Cinema in Gorizia took place the public screening of the finalist films and of the two movies that received special awards. The screenings took place simultaneously in three different halls: two halls at the University and one hall at the Kinemax. There were present the following authors:
- Enrique Garcia and Ruben Salazar for the movie “Daisy Cutter”
- Fabrizio Lazzaretti for the film “Domani torno a casa”- i.e. “I come home tomorrow”.
- Katia Bernardi for the film “Auschwitz is my Teacher”
- Emanuela Gasbarroni for the film “Acqua e pace” – i.e. “Water and Peace”
The directors were able to meet the public and present their works.
On July 3, at the Ara Pacis Mundi National Monument of Medea (Gorizia, Italy) took place the award ceremony. The authors present at the ceremony had the satisfaction of seeing an audience of about 2000 people attending the event. The institutional world authorities that were present included: Friuli’s Regional Councilor for Culture Venezia Giulia Elio De Anna, the President of the Province of Gorizia Gerghetta Henry, Gorizia’s Provincial Councilor for Culture Federico Portelli, the Prefect of Gorizia Maria Augusta Marrosu, and other prominent names from the institutional and cultural world. The Mayor of Medea, Alberto Bergamin, the Coordinator of the Festival, led the event by explaining the stages and the goals of the Festival.
The Festival will continue, but this time outside our peninsula, with a last date scheduled for the 2011 edition. This special event, which will be held in London on October 27 at the British Museum, when the absolute winner of 2011, and the winning film on Disarmament (the title will be announced soon) will be screened, is an important opportunity for the Festival and for our authors to receive an international exposure, enjoying the presence of audiovisual producers, journalists and prominent businessmen.
The waiting is long! In the meantime, we wish all our authors, producers and distributors happy vacations!
Films “ADMITTED” and films “SELECTED” to the 2011 edition
The artistic direction takes the opportunity to thank all the authors and producers who participated in the Sixth Edition of 2011. The number of participating countries has increased from 26 to 34 and the quality of films reviewed was even higher. Of 141 films admitted, 55 films were selected and have been examined by 5 juries in order to grant the 9 awards: a special jury granted the special award “Water Rights” for the best film on this subject, a special jury granted the special award for the best film on “Disarmament”; a circuit jury granted the special award for “The Best Story Film” (member municipalities: Aquileia, Cormons, Pordenone, Udine), the circuit jury for colleges and Dams University granted the two awards for the best films “Recommended for Schools”, in addition to the evaluation of the selected films (the schools participating in the circuit: Gorizia -Alighieri High School and Iti Galilei High School, Udine - Percoto High School and Uccellis High School, Trieste - Petrarca High School, and the students of Dams University, Gorizia) and finally, the technical jury for ranking the 4 finalists.
Beginning this year the meetings of the juries were not open to the public in order for the jurors to do the best of jobs. Compared to 2010, this year the admitted films have not been evaluated by the public directly. Only the selected films were evaluated by a smaller popular jury. It should be noted that the synopsis of all the admitted films can be found in the catalog, as required by the regulations.
On July 1, in the auditorium of the University of Udine (Dams, Gorizia) and in the Kinemax hall will be screened to the public the four finalists; after the viewing the public will have the opportunity to meet the directors and the authors of these films.
All prizes will be presented on July 3 during the award ceremony attended by thousands of people every year.
Only the prize for disarmament will be presented at the British Museum in London on October 27.
Water- Common Good for All
On March 22, 2011, with the occasion of the “World Water Day” began the VI International Festival “A Film For Peace” with the screening of the film “Water and Peace” the winner of the special prize for “Best Film – Water Rights“.
The event was held at the CISM (International Centre for Mechanical Sciences) in Udine. The audience, including students of The Mills English School and of Uccellis in Udine, was able to attend the screening of the documentary produced by director Emanuela Gasbarroni. The documentary deals with the issue of water rights, focusing on the armed conflicts between states caused by the scarcity of water resources. The film was highly appreciated by the schoolchildren; they had the advantage of a clear and simple, but all-encompassing exposition on the shortage of the ‘blue gold’ as the water is called today.
The meeting was attended by the president of the CAFC Udine, Eddi Gomboso, who outlined the aims and activities of the managing body of water that are designed to protect this increasingly valuable asset, and Eng. Moro, also of CAFC Udine, who answered questions from curious children and those interested in the subject.
The artistic director of the Festival, Enrico Cammarata, in initiating the sixth edition of the cine- competition, focused on the phases and changes made in the new edition. It was also shown the photographic work of the authors Bon & Cammarata, in black and white, hand-printed on fiber base paper, and having as subject the water rights, which will be delivered, together with the parchment, to the director Emanuela Gasbarroni during the award ceremony of Ara Pacis Mundi in Medea (GO).
The Award Ceremony
Due to organisational purposes, the award ceremony for the 5th Edition 2010 International Festival “A Film For Peace” was held on Sunday, September 5th, rather than during the second half of August, which was the initial plan.
The ceremony took place in Medea and was preceded by a ceremony of putting clods of earth from Nasiriyah and Herat in the hypogeum of the Ara Pacis Mundi monument, and was followed by the Concert for World Peace. A large, engaged audience attended the event, which was supported by regional, provincial and municipal governments. The mayor of Medea, Bergamin, read the message of appreciation for the event on behalf of Italy’s president, Giorgio Napolitano.
The Ara Pacis Mundi is an altar that stands for peace; it contains clods of earth inside of it and symbolically, it collects memories of those who died or went missing from various wars, coming from all nations, races and faiths, to express the defeat of war through the great hope of people from all over the world who believe in peaceful conflict resolution. By putting the clods of earth into the hypogeum, those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan while striving for the mission of peace were greatly honoured. Clods of earth were brought from Nasiriyah by the Medea police officer, Roberto Ramazzotti, who was wounded in the tragic attack, and another police officer, Marco Sellan, brought clods of earth from Herat on his way back from a mission in Afghanistan.
The 1st Place winner of the 2010 A Film For Peace Award was the American documentary, Agent Orange: 30 Years Later by John Trinh which also received 1st Place in the Feature Film Category. The director John Trinh collected the two awards.
The 1st Place Short Film award was given to the Iranian film Cold Blood by Amir Mehran. The director Amir Mehran wasn’t able to collect his award for bureaucratic reasons regarding entry into Italy.
The Runner-up Feature Film award winner was Strange Birds in Paradise - A West Papuan Story by Charlie Hill Smith. This Australian documentary also received the Best Educational Feature Film Award: Recommended for Schools. Producer John Cherry collected the awards.
The Runner-up Short Film was Berlino 1989-2009: 20 anni di libertà (Berlin 1989-2009: 20 Years of Freedom) by Dan Botbol. This Belgian film, produced by the European Commission, also received the Best Educational Film: Recommended for Schools award. Officer of the European Commission, Georges Papadakis, collected the awards. (ceremony photos)
The Concert for World Peace closed the event with a choir and orchestra performing Mozart’s Requiem, DKV 626 in D minor, performed by soloists Gisella Sanvitale, Silvia Bonesso, Francesco Cortese, Eugenio Leggiadri-Gallani, as well as by the choir “I madrigalisti di Trieste”, and the orchestra “I cameristi triestini”, conducted by Fabio Nossal.
That’s how the 5th Edition of the 2010 International Festival “A Film For Peace” ended, which has been a remarkable success this year with over 100 participating films, of which around 70 were admitted, and 15 of those were granted awards. The awards were assigned by 13 juries: 6 as part of the municipality network, 4 from the school network, 1 popular jury, 1 special jury for the “Water Rights” category, and last but not least, 1 technical jury.
The organisers of the Festival would like to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone that participated in the event. With their hard work, we’ve witnessed numerous issues concerning peace and armed conflict, human rights and world justice. All authors of the admitted films will receive a hard-copy of the catalogue.
The 2 Finalists In Each Category
Another tough challenge emerged between the 16 selected films for the 5th edition of the International Festival “A Film For Peace” 2010, this time for the 4 finalist rankings.
It definitely wasn’t easy for the jury to pick the 4 films that would be considered best among the 16 films.
It should be noted that the artistic direction was rigidly assessed during the selection process of the 16 films due to the high quality of these films.
The 4 finalist films are as follows:
Feature Films:
- Strange Birds in Paradise, A West Papuan Story by Charlie Hill Smith, AUSTRALIA
- Agent Orange: 30 Years Later by John Trinh, USA
Short Films:
- Berlino 1989-2009: 20 anni di libertà by Dan Botbol, BELGIUM
- Cold Blood by Amir Mehran, IRAN
Now, it is up to the technical jury to put together the list of films which will be granted the following awards: Best Film, First Place and Second Place Feature Films, and First Place and Second Place Short Films.
Over the next few days, the date of the award ceremony will be announced as the original date has been moved to the second half of August for organisational purposes.
The artistic director, organisers, and jury members would like to thank the authors and producers of all the admitted films and particularly those of the 4 finalist films for their works as they have brought us touching moments and have brought to our attention moving themes dealing with war and human rights.
In a few days, the film winners of the Audience Jury Award and the History of Cinema Award will be announced.
See you soon!
The Festival “A Film For Peace” To Date: Celebrating Its 5th Anniversary
The International Festival “A Film For Peace”, 5th Edition 2010, organised by the Province of Gorizia, the Town of Medea, Windcloak Film Production and the artistic direction of Enrico Cammarata, is now in its fifth year of celebration.
The 2006 1st Edition seems quite far from now as it only spanned nationally with 22 participating films.
The region of Sicily dominated the first two editions with a total of 13 participating films and the awarding of 1st Prize to the 2006 Sicilian film “Danilo Dolci, memoria e utopia” by Alberto Castiglione and the 2007 1st Prize to the film “Faccio finta di” by Nello La Marca and 3rd Prize to the film “La goccia” by Marco Lanzafame which are also Sicilian films.
The 2008 3rd Edition was the breakthrough of the event: the Festival spread to an international level with the participation of 39 films, 23 of these being foreign films.
Sicily lost its dominant position and led 4 participating films to Lazio. The 2008 Edition awarded the following prizes:
1st Place in the Short Film Section: “Smiling Dog” by Shohreh Jandaghian (Germany); 2nd Place: “Flowers of Rwanda” by David Muñoz (Spain); 1st Place in the Feature Film Section: “Il sogno di Peter” by Enrico Cerasuolo (Italy); 2nd Place: “Gli altri bambini” by Paola Chartroux (Italy). The final winner of the Festival “A Film For Peace” was announced as “Smiling Dog” by Shohreh Jandaghian (Germany).
The films admitted into the 2009 4th Edition included a total of 81 films, 24 of which were Italian films and 57 were foreign films. The Festival was sponsored in the same year by the European Commission Representation in Milan, the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In 2009, prizes were awarded to the following films: 1st Place in the Feature Film Section “Memories of a Generation” by Aaron Floresco, Canada; 2nd Place in the Feature Film Section “The Day After Peace” by Jeremy Gilley, (England); 1st Place in the Short Film Section The Italian Doctor by Esben Hansen (Denmark); 2nd Place “Una vida mejor” by Luis Fernandez Reneo (Spain); and the final winner of the edition was “The Italian Doctor” by Esben Hansen (Denmark). Also, the following special awards have been added: Special Award for SCHOOL NETWORKS to the best film “Memories of a Generation” by Aaron Floresco (Canada); Special Award for SCHOOL NETWORKS to the best short film “A Life of Death” by Dawn Westlake (U.S.A).
This leads us to the 2010 5th Edition. The Festival, with more than 100 participating films of which 74 films come from 26 countries from all 5 continents of the world, is among the most important thematic film festivals at the international level.
Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia has been an official sponsor of the Festival for several years.
The 2010 Edition has also included immense participation of its partners, Cafc, l’Aato of Gorizia and Iris Acqua, which have contributed to the promotion of the Special “Water Rights” Award of the section that includes films focusing on water rights. On March 22, which is when World Water Day is celebrated, a jury granted a Special Award to the film “Le Acque di Chenini” by Elisa Mereghetti.
“Cafc spa”, emphasised President Eddi Gomboso, “also supports this initiative as a spotlight on water resources, coinciding with the celebration of World Water Day and dedicating a special award to this precious commodity. It is crucial to raise awareness that everyone has the right to water and therefore it should not be wasted. As a result, events that involve a large and mixed audience, such as the festival, end up being particularly important to recognise the value of this resource and promote a conscious use of it.
The 74 selected films will be screened in town networks, particularly in 6 auditoriums in the Towns of Aquileia, Cormons, Dignano, Medea, Romans d’Isonzo and Ruda from May 15 until June 18.
Among these admitted films, 16 films will be selected by 4 high schools, that are part of the School Network, to be evaluated.
On May 24, 25, 26, and 27, the 16 selected films will also be viewed and judged in the Sala della Torre of the Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia by the Popular Jury, which consists of: a group of students from Dams University of Udine and a group of members from the Youth Forum of Gorizia.
The overall evaluation by the School Network and Popular Jury will allow for the appointment of 4 finalist films. These 4 films will be viewed and judged by the Technical Jury, which will then meet in July to decide the final ranking and assign the awards for the 2010 Edition.
At last, the awards ceremony will take place at the national monument “Ara Pacis Mundi” on July 19 at 20:30.