“WINDOWS ON THE WORLD” COMPETITION FOR THE BEST FEATURE FILM
The Jury, made up of
Michael Nyman (President), musician and composer
Guido Casali, director of programmes for Sky Arte HD and founder of Cinemino
Funa Maduka, director and acquisition executive for Netflix
awards the City of Milan Prize for the best Feature Film in the “Windows on the World” competition (8,000 €) to:
I Am Not a Witch
Rungano Nyoni (France/UK/Zambia, 2017)
For delivering an accomplished feminist allegory, made even more profound because of its subversiveness. The film allows us to delve deep into a seemingly unfamiliar world filled with bias and cruelty under the comforting cloak of satire, At times we’re unsure whether we should be laughing or crying as this chilling realization sets in: this world is one we condone and inhabit. Heightened by stunning visual direction and a captivating score, the film defines bold, provocative cinema, ringing audiences to a necessary zenith, where mind expansion – seeing oneself and the world clairvoyantly, if only for a moment, can occur.
Special Mention to:
Severina, Felipe Hirsch (Brazil/Uruguay, 2017)
COMPETITION FOR THE BEST AFRICAN SHORT FILM
The Jury, made up of
Franco Dassisti (President), journalist
Valentina Barzaghi, journalist
Emanuele Sacchi, journalist
awards the COE Prize to the best African Short Film (2.000 €) to:
Aya
Moufida Fedhila (Tunisia/France/Qatar, 2018)
A story that speaks of courage and the need, more topical than ever, to have concrete answers to the ‘whys?’ that our existences convey. The film is set in Tunisia, but the force of is female characters and their tenacity in never stopping asking questions can, we hope, take place everywhere.
Special Mention to:
Il pleut sur Ouaga, by Fabien Dao (France/Burkina Faso, 2017)
For how it approaches a context of difficulty and minimal hope, nevertheless seeking the way of romanticism. Because love remains the irrational code even when the struggle for survival seems to impose its own reasons.
EXTR’A COMPETITION
The Jury, made up of
Franco Dassisti (President), journalist
Valentina Barzaghi, journalist
Emanuele Sacchi, journalist
awards the Prize (1.000 €) to:
Babylonia Mon Amour
For the ability to approach the question of immigration with the force of a punch in the face, disturbing and not edifying at all. The camera captures the crudeness of a European city which we usually imagine as very different, a crudeness that we do not know or that we tend to easily to overlook.
Special Mention to:
Abu Salim, by Antonio Martino (Italy/Libya, 2017)
A place of suffering, a memory to be handed down. Fathers who tell their sons of the horror, so that those who were not there have the foundations on which to build a new country. Starting from very close to Hell. With a dry style, the director offers the viewer a slice of contemporary history. A “behind the scenes” that no TV has ever shown.
SPECIAL PRIZES
City of Milan Prize of the Public
Killing Jesus, by Laura Mora (Colombia/Argentina, 2017)
CINIT Prize
Chebet, by Tony Koros (Kenya, 2018)
For the exemplary portrait and the intense interpretation of the young heroine, capable of overcoming the daily humiliations with the power of her gaze and her coherent behaviour, far from every compromise and keeping the dignity as a woman intact.
The prize, which consists of the acquisition of the distribution rights in Italy, is awarded to an African short film with educational value.
The Jury of the “CINIT Prize – Coneforum Italiano” is made up of Massimo Camminiti, Neda Furlan, Orazio Leotta and Massimo Nardin.
RAZZISMO BRUTTA STORIA Prize
Vita di Marzouk, by Ernesto Pagano (Italy/France, 2017)
The association Razzismo è una Brutta Storia awards a special prize to the film in the Extr’A section which best questions the themes of racism and interculture.
SIGNIS (OCIC e UNDA) Prize
Killing Jesus, by Laura Mora (Colombia/Argentina, 2017)
For the authenticity, the mystery, the search for an unusual language of spiritual and poetic stories that make this filmic narration extraordinary. For the extraordinary capacity of narrating the crudeness and gentleness of the human soul, vendetta and forgiveness, the encounter between two opposing worlds, the violence that becomes beauty.
Special Mention to: The Seen and the Unseen, by Kamila Andini (Indonesia)
The prize is awarded by The World Catholic Association for Communication.
Jury: Christina Beffa, Vanessa Lanari, Ana María Pedroso Guerrero, Riccardo Sorbello
SUNUGAL Prize
Une saison en France, by Mahamat Saleh Haroun (France, 2017)
STUDENTS’ JURY Prize
Nightshade, by Shady El Hamus (Netherlands/Egypt, 2018)
For having succeeded in approaching the topic of illegal immigration from an angle which does not put the adults’ gaze at the centre, but the innocent one of a boy, open to relations and attentive to feelings, For having told the story of the delicate father-son relationship, in a harsh and rigid context and which make the free expression of feelings difficult. For having brought out the attempt of the child, forced to be mature in some circumstances, nevertheless keeps his innocence. At last, as the title suggests, the film bring into the light a question left “in the shadows” and overlooked, and allows us to take part in a part of life of people considered shadows who pass by unnoticed.
ISMU Award
Into Reverse, by Noha Adel (Egypt, 2017)
The short film effectively shows an apparently irremediable conflict between the people in a neighbourhood in Cairo. Many faces and many perspective emerge in the search for a compromise of “a way out”. At the centre of it all, there is a woman who, remaining firm in her choice of apparent immobility and non-violence, will effectively cause change in the quarrelsome people around her, showing that mediating a conflict is always possible if efforts are made to overcome rigidity and prejudice.
The Fondazone ismu (Iniziative e Studi sulla Multietnicità) awards a prize to the best short film at the festival with educational value, The Prize consists of the acquisition of the rights of distribution in Italy and is awarded by a jury made up of teachers.
PROSPETTIVE Prize – COE Association
Abu Salim, by Antonio Martino (Italy, 2018)
It is a film which touches the heart by delivering a universal message: fighting for your own freedom means always fighting for everyone’s freedom.
The prize is awarded to a short film in the Extr’A Competition by a jury made up of asylum-seekers hosted by COE in Barzio. The Jury is made up of Ebou Jallow (Gambia), Ansou Mané (Guinea Bissau) and Yacouba Youré (Mali).
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