Siciliambiente announces the selection of fiction, documentary, and animation short films with the 21 titles in competition that will be presented at the 12th edition of the festival.
11 fiction and documentary short films in competition:
Somewhere On Planet Earth by Silvia Zeitlinger (Italy, Algeria, 2019) in world premiere. Two monkeys come across the corpse of an extinct species: ours.
L’eau Est la Vie (Water Is Life): from standing rock to the swamp by Sam Vinal (US, 2019), Italian premiere. On the banks of Louisiana, a group of indigenous women is ready to fight to preserve their lifestyle. They risk everything to protect Mother Earth from predatory fossil fuel companies that seek to poison her.
Padenti / Forest by Marcantonio Pani (Italy, 2020), Italian premiere. “Padenti”, in Sardinian means forest. Padenti is a triple portrait. A cork forest in the days of extraction by man, the men who respectfully do the job, and a person who, with dedication and passion, wanted the work to go to the villagers who the forest belongs to.
Amaro by Federico Savonitto (Italy, 2020), Italian premiere. A journey into the taste and bitter culture of Sicily.
Driving Lessons by Marziyeh Riahi (Iran, 2019), Sicilian premiere. In accordance with Iranian legislation, Bahareh must ensure that her traditionalist husband accompanies her to a driving lesson so that the instructor is not alone with her.
Anna by Dekel Berenson (Great Britain / Ukraine / Israel 2019) Sicilian premiere. Anna is a single mother who desperately seeks a change. Attracted by a radio advertisement, she becomes a member of an association aimed at American men who are traveling around the country in search of love.
A Simple Life by Myrto Papadogeorgou, Robert Harding Pittman (Greece, 2018) Sicilian premiere. A small battle to avoid building a resort and a golf course on a Greek island.
Ethiopia: Daily Fight For Recycling by Luigi Baldelli (Switzerland, 2019) Sicilian premiere. In Ethiopia statistics say in 2010 there were 21 million plastic bottles, and that by the end of 2020 there will be hundreds of millions. Almost the entire recycling process is done by women because men consider it a humiliating job. The Zenzero association helps and protects these women in their human and labour rights.
Crisis by Cesare Maglioni (France / Spain, 2019) Sicilian premiere. In the middle of the western Sahara desert there is no water, no trees, no animals, but a group of refugees, struggling to survive in the harsh habitat. The environmental crisis is seemingly the least of their problems. Here, the cause of modern disease in the world emerges: poverty and the environmental crisis are two sides of the same coin.
Even Fish Cry by Francesco Cabras and Alberto Molinari, (Italy 2019). Sicilian premiere. The story of the Adriatic Sea through the voices of fishermen, environmentalists, researchers, and artists. A sea that has always preserved a great treasure of biodiversity, but which today is depleted due to overfishing.
Blackout by Giuseppe Rasi (Italy, 2019). It is morning and Anna faces an important business meeting. But family routines and some unexpected mishaps force her to be late and face a distressing race against time, that makes you forget the most important thing.
Out of competition: Tutto è Vodù by Martino Lo Cascio (Italy, 2019) premiere screening. There are human rights, those of nations, cultures, the Earth, and living beings. In these travel notes, the author meets people and places claiming the right to practice their ancestral religion, voodoo. And for a true immersion, following in the footsteps of the first film-maker anthropologists, he moves without crew and supported only by his own viewpoint.
10 Animated shorts in the competition:
Navajo Tales: The Stars by Dallin Penman (US, 2016) Italian premiere. A folk story in the Navajo language. A coyote ruins the projects of the Black God at the creation of the firmament. But only apparently.
Capibaribe by Francisco Catão and Caldeira Pires, (Brazil, 2019) Italian premiere. A small capybara is forced to leave his home, the peaceful Capibaribe river, once the herd is threatened by unstoppable human forces.
Marie Opron’s Le Silence de La Rue (France, 2020) Italian premiere. A black silhouette unravels among the twists and turns of an asphyxiating urbanity. But the mind is always projected towards nature and its peace.
Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva (Czech Rep., 2019) Italian premiere. A father-daughter relationship, characterized by lack of affection and feelings of guilt.
Diminuendo by Henrike Lendowski (US, 2020) Italian premiere. The director observes the harmful effects that plastic waste has on marine life and the environment from an emotional point of view.
Il Tuffo di Marianna by Gianfrancesco Iacono (Italy, 2019). Marianna is 14 years old and has just lost her love. Distraught and sad, the girl wanders in a gray and autumnal Palermo. In the streets of the city, an elusive figure seems to be interested in everything that ordinary people ignore. Could an unexpected encounter restore Marianna’s confidence in life?
Plantae by Ghillerme Gehrn (Mexico, 2017). A short film made in 2D animation using the traditional process with sequential still images. Composed in a virtual 3-dimensional way, the drawings reconstruct the largest forest in the world with attention to the details hidden inside the woods.
Untravel by Ana Nedelkjovic and Nikola Majdak jr, (Serbia, 2018). A film about patriotism, tourism and emigration.
Animal Behavior by David Fine, Alison Snowden (US, 2018). Various species of animals engage in a group psychotherapy session.
Six Mile Stretch by Carol Chambers (US, 2018). A hand-painted film from the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. An artist’s response to the last wild 6-mile stretch of the Bear River, threatened by possible flooding of a new dam (Centennial Dam).