WTFF competition: feature film and short film
Motivations of the prizes for feature films and short-films at WTFF4
The jury of the international competition of the Working Title Film Festival 4, consisting of Ilaria Fraioli and Claudio Casazza, has decided to present to L’ora d’acqua by Claudia Cipriani the prize for best feature film with the following motivation:
Claudia Cipriani’s cinema is always delicate and entertaining, and in this film she talked about an unusual job, never actually seen in movies, the job of a deep-sea diver, and she managed to do so by mixing reality and imagination. She created a sort of adventure film: an inner, imaginative adventure in which the light-heartedness of childhood makes us live a world where water is a crucial element for life and imagination, and in the director’s vision it is also a living maternal womb.
The jury of the international competition of the Working Title Film Festival 4, consisting of Ilaria Fraioli and Claudio Casazza, has decided to present to Am Cu Ce – Pride by Hannah Weissenborn the prize as best short-film with the following motivation:
This film has succeeded in portraying a highly topical issue: the contradiction between sensibility, market needs, and human needs, by combining with elegance and awareness the codes of fictional cinema and documentary films, taking us directly to the heart of the problem, with no shortcuts. The choice to use the 4:3 format is also remarkable, which focuses on the physicality of the protagonist and more in general on the importance of bodies in the contemporary world of work.
The jury also decided to present two special mentions, one for feature films to the documentary film Drømmeland by Joost van der Wiel for its special evocative power, through images which, by getting rid of a purely observational context, acquire a universal philosophical value, and for its excellent editing structure.
For short films, the jury decided to present the Special mention to Hoa by Marco Zuin because this film tells about the transformation of our world: the director, through a young woman and her knowledge of Vietnamese traditional medicine, draws the viewers closer to nature, and at the same time he leads us to understand the brutality of the growing urbanisation and of the destruction of this natural habitat.
Extraworks
The jury of the international competition of the Extraworks section at Working Title Film Festival 4, consisting of Ilaria Pezone and Riccardo Palladino, has decided to present the first prize to Being and becoming by Maite Abella, because we felt that the director managed to go beyond self-representation, reflecting on the image that you create of yourself, as a personal and social expectation, questioning the authenticity of your dreams and desires. This work combines the contents and their expression in an original and elegant way, suggesting cinematic references and giving a sense to every level of the image: the overlaps recall the imagery of a society that defines clear, sometimes violent cultural and social models; at the same time her personalistic approach is conveyed through a fresh and intimate language, making the film dynamic and profound.
The jury has decided to give a special mention to Mitten by Olivia Rochette and Gerard-Jan Claes. This observational documentary film portrays the artistic/cultural work, that is often impalpable, without any artifice; the natural rhythm of the action allows to gradually enter into the heart of the preparatory effort. The camera often turns to the gesture of the construction of the body, regardless of the piece itself; you do not enter the intimacy of the characters but can perceive their self-denial/dedication. The photography is remarkable.