It is time to pay tribute to the NABA Cinema Awards winners of this very first edition. It is also time to anticipate some news about the evolution of the BA course in Media Design and Multimedia Arts. The short film festival has been a testing ground for young filmmakers, and here are their fulfillments.
The awards: best short films, special jury prize, best direction and best screenplay
Realistic and full of pathos, "Miasma" by Tian Tian won the best short film during NABA Cinema Awards, and it got the opportunity to be distributed by Premiere Film. A boy from the Chinese countryside changes his life when he starts to attend a prestigious school in Chongqing. New context, relatives coldness, conflicting relationships with classmates: all these factors throw the protagonist into a cone of confusion and loneliness that results in a terrible crime.
In the Best Short Film NABA - Rome category, on the other hand, the winner was "Il muto" by Michele Polisano, who received a free Feltrinelli Gift Card. Here, a gang competes with a mysterious trigger-happy opponent in a clash to the last bullet.
Introspective and apocalyptic is "El lugar por donde el sole sale" by Pablo Garcia Contreras, which won the best screenplay, best direction and a voucher to spend at partner Moovie. The world as we all know is over, and the three protagonists (Val, Oli and Lu) wander the Mexican coast trying to survive the new reality. However, the past constantly comes back to haunt them.
Arianna Casati's "La danza degli acari" got the Special Jury Prize and won the Feltrinelli Gift Card. The short film tells the routine, problems and weaknesses of an elderly prostitute and her clients.
Animated films, sound, image and editing: the other awarded authors
Animation movies got the space they deserve. Chiara Seveso's "Dóma" and Andrea Rebecca Marchini's "Seraph" won the Best Extra Short Animation award ex-aequo, receiving a free annual licence of the Harmony Premium software, thanks to Toon Boom Animation, and a Wacom One display by Wacom. They respectively bring to the big screen the cult of death as seen through the eyes of two seamstresses in a small Sardinian village (Tizia and Aurora) and the existential troubles of Luc, who struggles to break through the obstacles of a lonely world.
Luigi Chiapolino's "La casa della solitudine" triumphed in the Best Cinematography category, showing how a tragic event can affect the most intimate relationships. Upset by the death of a site manager, architect Marion complicates the relationship with his son. Best Sound for "Red Means Go" by Emmanuel Blay. The film shows an ordinary day in the life of a Ghanaian family facing poverty and disability. Finally, Emanuele Cantò won the Best Editing award with "L'acqua che non piove" - a short film set between Tallinn and Pescara that focuses on the relationship that three brothers have with the summer house where they discover their roots.
Cinema, NABA and the BA in Film and Animation: the evolution of the academic offer
As mentioned in the introduction, the NABA Cinema Awards prove the Academy's interest in the medium of video. This attention is not limited to the organisation of this event. In fact, from AY 2022/23, the BA in Media Design and Multimedia Arts will evolve into the BA in Film and Animation at the Milan campus (Rome teaching delivery campus subject to authorisation by MUR for A.Y. 2022/23). The course was created to focus on techniques and tools needed to work in the constantly changing field of audiovisual creations, in particular in the branch of cinema. The aim is to prepare artists and professionals who are specialised in audiovisual production for cinema and digital channels. Acquired skills will be relevant for live-action and animation productions, traditional and experimental design, and interactive and transmedia projects.
