Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC), the autonomous and parallel section organized by the Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani (SNCCI) as part of the Venice Biennale’s 80th Venice International Film Festival (Aug. 30-Sept. 09, 2023) awarded the 38th edition’s prizes.
The international jury composed of Baloji, Ava Cahen and Bianca Oana awarded the IWONDERFULL Grand Prize to “Malqueridas” by Tana Gilbert. Here is the motivation: “Because her subject is dizzying because her formal approach is masterful, a radical gesture that brings the off-screen to life and shows us only the details, the blurred image, the stolen pixels.
Narrative and set-up are subservient to the testimonies.
The director places us next to the incarcerated women without judging their worth, and this is a marvel of poetic license in cinema.”
Also, “Malqueridas” won the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Prize for Best Technical Contribution, awarded by a special commission of experts composed of Matteo Berardini, Marco Contino, Raffaella Giancristofaro, with the following motivation: “For the articulate post-production process, through which covert images of the otherwise inaccessible experience of a women’s prison are given cinematic form. This film device makes the source material usable in low definition, respecting it. An unsightly technical choice with clear political value.”
Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard” wins The Film Club Audience Award with a 4.5/5.00 approval rating and the Verona Cinema Circle Award, given by an under-35 jury composed of Luca Fron, Federico Mango, Alessia Origano, Lorenzo Zampini, Marika Zandanel with the following motivation: “You asked us to get dirty, to swallow our securities and radically subvert our conception of rejection. At that point, we understood. Only by sinking our hands into a garbage dump of objects, memories and emotions can this accumulation be transformed into a home. The Cinema Circle Award goes to the most innovative film of International Critics Week, Hoard, by Luna Carmoon.”
The international jury also mentioned Saura Lightfoot Leon for her role in Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard” and Ariane Labed, among the leads in Adrien Beau’s “Le Vourdalak.” These are the reasons: “We were amazed by the charisma and talent of the lead actress in Hoard, Saura Lightfoot Leon, and wanted to pay tribute to her brilliant debut.”
“Her presence still pervades us. The jury would like to highlight Ariane Labed’s performance in The Vourdalak for her precision, grace and poise and for portraying a marginalized female character with strength and dignity.”
As part of the eighth edition of SIC@SIC (Short Italian Cinema @ Settimana Internazionale della Critica), the jury, composed of three film industry professionals – Nicoletta Romeo, Eddie Bertozzi, Matteo Tortone – has selected the following winners from the seven short films in competition:
Best Short Film Award “Las memorias perdidas de los árboles” by Antonio La Camera with the motivation: “For imagining a sensory experience, a hallucinogenic journey, a psychedelic vertigo. But above all, for leading us through an intense emotional exploration that moves and amazes, transcending the datum of nature to the very human heart of suffering and loss.”
Best Director Award “La linea del terminatore” by Gabriele Biasi with the motivation: “For the formal research with which the author realizes a work in which the selection of public and private archival materials, juxtaposing spiritual and emotional preparation with distant journeys and within oneself, conveys a coherent and poetic vision of researched and above all human cinema.”
Best Technical Contribution Award “We Should All Be Futurists” by Angela Norelli with the motivation, “Through meticulous research of archival materials, a pungent text, and engaging irony and comedy, it proposes a reversal of bellicose and macho rhetoric, constructing a lightning-quick tale of individual liberation.”
“An extraordinarily vital SIC edition comes to an end. We are thrilled with the reception our films have received, with the attendance in the theatres, with the attention the press and critics have given us, with the warmth, and with the community that is being created around International Critics’ Week. It has been great to hear the audience, the reactions, and the debate that has spontaneously generated around our proposals. We feel the responsibility of our task: that of discovering new talents and giving space to the cinema of the future. A diverse cinema that observes the present with an unprecedented, fresh and extremely aware gaze. Even the prizes awarded by the different juries confirm a direction we intend to maintain: decisive, political, lively even in form,” comments Delegate General Beatrice Fiorentino on this edition.
“A 38th edition of the International Film Critics’ Week that leaves its mark for the presence of enthusiastic audiences at our screenings, the discoveries of new talents, also thanks to the Sic@Sic section that we organize together with Cinecittà, and for the great participation in the events hosted by the House of Critics, which for the second year hosted critics, authors and industry representatives every day. “We close on a high note on Saturday, Sept. 9, with ‘Passione critica,’ the documentary produced by SNCCI thanks to the support of the DGCA of MiC that tells our story,” says Cristiana Paternò, president of the National Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI).
Tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 9, at 11:30 a.m. “Passione Critica” by Simone Isola, Franco Montini and Patrizia Pistagnesi will be presented at the Sala Perla of the Palazzo del Casinò. Produced by the National Film Critics Union (SNCCI), with the contribution of the General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture, the documentary is a Special Projection and joint event of the Venezia together with the International Critics’ Week and Venice Days.
Following this, at 2 p.m., screenings of the short film and feature film winners of the Grand Prix International Critics’ Week will be held in the Sala Perla for all accredited visitors.
