AIFF 2011: the "Intesa Sanpaolo Award" for the Best Shortfilm goes to Francesco Prisco’s “La colpa” featuring Gianmarco Tognazzi

Promoter Francesco Sciambarella and Artistic Director iarumasami (Antonio Giuseppe Valenti) are very pleased with the success of the 4th edition of the Acquedolci Independent Film Festival (AIFF), the international independent short film competition with Top Video Tutto Digitale certification. The Festival also met with the glowing enthusiasm of Acquedolci’s mayor Ciro Gallo, Town Councilman of Tourism and the Performing Arts Calogero Carcione and Provincial Councilman of Public Education Prof. Giuseppe Di Bartolo, who all expressed their most sincere appreciation and acknowledgement for this event which in only four years has been capable of offering a Festival with immense appeal and international flair.

The success of AIFF 2011 is confirmed by an audience made up of directors, producers, technicians, guests and members of the international quality Jury who filled the new location in Acquedolci’s Pineta “Giovanni Falcone” to capacity. The prestigious jury included Tunisian film director Haikel Rahali and actor Tony Palazzo. The audience in attendance at the screenings on 26, 27 and 28 August showed great interest and enthusiasm as well as those who followed the film Festival on the internet, thanks to the direct streaming made possible by Main Partner Salvino Fidacaro’s GooWai and the indefatigable work of the Festival’s Press Office (Gaetano Barbagallo and Francesco Gusmano for the online network Nebrodi Network).

Francesco Prisco, the young director born in Frattamaggiore (Naples) in 1976, won the AIFF 2011 Intesa Sanpaolo Award for Best Short film with “La Colpa” starring Gianmarco Tognazzi – who gave a very intense performance – Teresa Saponangelo and Hossein Taheri “… for the effective dynamics of the excellent writing which were evocative and intensely structured in the incisive cinematic rendition of one of mankind’s most intimate frailties, responding to an ancestral code of prejudice; for the intelligent handling of the emotional parable with which the delicate process of identification of the spectator is inflected; for the skilful direction of the phenomenal actors which is an unmistakable sign of authorial intent; for the absolute mastery of technical means…”

Francesco Prisco – who has already worked with Tognazzi in the past and collected an outstanding amount of awards for his earlier short film “Fuori Uso” such as the Nastro d’Argento 2009 for Best Actor – expressed “his warmest congratulations for the success of this Festival which is always associated with high-profile professional quality” to AIFF organisers.

Oonagh Kearney’s wonderful Irish short film “Her mother’s daughters” (also awarded for Best Choreography) and “Dulce” directed by Spaniard Iván Ruiz Flores came in 2nd and 3rd place respectively among the 333 works arriving from 26 different countries.

The 2011 AIFF/School Award offered by Navarra Editore went to Annarita Cocca’s “TuttiGiùPerTerra” (…”Ashes, ashes we all fall down…”) for Ariano Irpino’s “Mancini” Comprehensive Institute. “…for the powerful emotional impact with which the director was able to represent the tragedy and fear that a group of adolescents experienced during an earthquake; for having conveyed a message of solidarity, altruism, generosity in an all-embracing manner. These qualities were what enabled the children to overcome such a disastrous event by conjuring up strategies as well as emotional and social skills, putting various sensorial channels to use in order for them to maintain contact…”

Sicilian director from Modica Ivano Fachin received the 2011 GooWai Award for Best Photography for his “Tempus” and the PsychoLand ~ visions of elsewhere Award directly from the Festival’s Artistic Director iarumasami for his captivating “Vodka tonic” which was filmed in New York and had won at the last Taormina Film Festival – “…for the deconstruction of a human experience in perfect proportions of human experience – imperfect by definition and its most intimate physiology; for the worthiness of ‘liberation’ of language, distracted here from its formal codification, crumbled and transformed into an expressive playfulness…” Fachin commented on the Festival at Acquedolci: “This is an event whose quality and organizational quality has absolutely nothing to envy of those more acknowledged international film Festivals.”

The AIFF/Doc Award was given to first place winner Leonardo Ferraro – the documentarist from Castrovillari – for his “Torre 8” (Italy). Ferraro congratulated the staff on the Festival’s impeccable organization and the hospitality he received. Noelia Rodríguez Deza was awarded second place for her “Formol” (Spain). She received her acknowledgement along with Alberto Martín Sanchidrián, her Director of Photography, and interpreter Janine Salamida. The young Spanish documentarist told the audience that “the best award was the absolute quality with which her work was projected.”

Among the many people attending the Festival: director Rudy Di Giacomo (Winner of the Jury Audience Award for “Una fortuna da ricordare” A Fortune to Remember), Giacomo Rebuzzi (Honourable Mention and Best Female Face to Cinzia Mascoli for “Te la ricordi Francesca Lupo?”), Fabio Mollo (Honourable Mentions for Best Scenography and Best Male Face to Andrea De Filippo for “Un’offerta per la festa”) and Fabio Bianchini (who attended the Festival at Acquedolci with composer Stefan Röslmair and singer Gloria Bazzocchi, winner of the AIFF/Clip Award for his polished and extremely elegant “Where what is within”, which was a finalist along with Enrico Ghezzi and Maristella Bonomo’s “Oceano”).

Others attending the Festival included film operator Giorgia Sciabbica, who represented directors Chiara Andrich and Valentina Pellitteri – who were awarded first place AIFF/Sicilia 2011 for their “Himera/Christian Rainer” – as well as directors Davide Vigore and Piero Cordaro, 2nd and 3rd place respectively for the AIFF/Sicilia Award for “I lamenti del convento” and “Romanzo popolare”.

Among the numerous acknowledgements:

-     The AIFF/Animation Award to “Daisy cutter” by Spain’s Enrique García and Rubén Salazar;

-     Honourable Mention for Best Story went to Giuseppe Marco Albano’s “Stand by me”.

Evocative musical performances by the “Colonne Sonore” Quartet, singer Janine Salamida and the Kalèatturnu Group also graced the event.

During the Award Ceremony, Master Photographer Melo Minnella – one of Italy’s most prominent and prestigious photographers – awarded two short films with two of his works of art that were authenticated and created in “pittographiae”, a technique patented by Toti Librizzi, Chairman of the “La Casa di Colapesce” Cultural Association.

The Festival was presented by videomaker Franco Blandi, actress and model Mariapaola Tedesco and Doriana Milia.

The Antonio Barone’s Arka Service – AIFF’s highly competent Technical Partner – guaranteed a superb and very much appreciated video projection and sound quality.

The Acquedolci Independent Film Festival closed its 4th edition and has confirmed its place among the most prestigious cultural products in exponential evolution in Southern Italy.

All updates and information regarding AIFF activity is available at the event’s official website: www.psycholand.it, as well as on www.prolocoacquedolci.it.