Festival internazionale Segni della Notte / Urbino-Italy

STUDENT JURY

MAIN AWARD

Grandmamauntsistercat

Zuza Banasinska

Poland, Netherlands / 2024 / 0:23:25

Zuza Banasi?ska reinvents the famous Slavic witch Baba Yaga through a clever montage of films from ?ód?’s Educational Film Studio, containing sexist content. Questioning their own non-binary identity through an unsettling voice-over that tells the story of a matriarchal family, they unleash the queer dimension of images tasked with conveying a normative conception of identity. c

ITALIAN PREMIERE

JURY DECLARATION

For its high level of technical mastery and the way sound and imagery catch the audience attention.

SIGNS AWARD

The Signs Award honours films, which treat an important subject in an original and convincing way

Upon This Land

Rémie Radwan Maksoud

Lebanon / 2024 / 0:04:00

In a realm embroidered with the threads of history's battles, the human form transforms into a poignant landscape, echoing the violence etched upon its land and people in the tapestry of the Arab land.

ITALIAN PREMIERE

JURY DECLARATION

For the original way it shows the relationship between a population and its own territoryand the overall aestetic of a short film.

NIGHT AWARD

The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness
and subtleness, which keeps mind and consideration moving

In the Noise of the Downpour

Oleksandr Stupak

Ukraine / 2024 / 0:11:47

The film is a contemplation of life through the prism of war. It is a premonition of global world changes... and a hope for the prudence of humanity.
Human beings live in a world of memories, fears and passions, dreams and hopes. In our memories, we increasingly want to return to the world of childhood - summer, where joy and light reign, as opposed to cruel reality, loneliness and existentialism. But it is becoming more and more difficult to get into this world, to dissolve at least mentally in the sun's glare. This film is about man in nature and nature in man, about cyclicality, the beginning and the end - the path to eternity. Autumn is heading towards winter, and we are so eager for light.

JURY DECLARATION

For the avant-guard scenary that accompanies the deep themes, leaving space for ambiguity and further thoughtfullness..

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

We filmed this movie during the air raids and rocket attacks in Ukraine in the city of Lviv and its suburbs. The film features a poem that is relevant to our time. The author of the poem is Vasyl Stus, one of the most prominent Ukrainian poets of the 20th century. The poem is recited by the author himself (a miracle that a lifetime recording has survived, almost all others were destroyed). Vasyl Stus was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in the Kolyma camps for his views and defence of Ukrainian art and freedom. He was and remains the voice and conscience of the Ukrainian people. Some sources claim that he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1985, and that he died in mysterious circumstances in his cell the same year - the prize is not awarded to the dead. The film also features music by Terry Riley, one of the most prominent contemporary American composers. This particular piece of music was essential for our film, but it seemed almost impossible to use it. But the composer himself came to our aid, and our dream came true. The film also features Solomiya Krylova, the most famous young Ukrainian actress right now. There were no favourable times, no opportunities, it seemed, but there was just a thirst for creativity!

SPECIAL MENTION

Emperica

Kris De Meester, Ron Chiers

Belgium / 2024 / 0:09:02

Against the backdrop of societal collapse, two powerful voices engage in a high-stakes debate over the future of humanity. Should mankind be placed under total control to safeguard its survival, or should they be granted the freedom to shape their own destiny, even if it means risking self-destruction?

ITALIAN PREMIERE

JURY DECLARATION

For the rawness of how reality is depicted