Venice Film Week
2018 Awards
The Venice Film Week has announced the award winners for the 2018 edition.
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The award for the Best Narrative Feature Film went to 'Bad Poetry Tokyo' (Japan) by Anshul Chauhan. A 30 Years old aspiring actress makes a living as a hostess at a shady club in Tokyo. Betrayed by her lover and her dreams crushed,broken woman leaves Tokyo for her hometown in the countryside after five years of no contact with her family. There she reconnects with an old flame but is also forced to confront some unpleasant truths about her past.
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The prize for the Best Feature Documentary Film was for 'The Limits of My World' (United States) by Heather Cassano. The Limits of My World follows a nonverbal young man’s transition from the school system into adulthood. Brian has autism and faces the daily challenges of adjusting to his new life. Filmed from the intimate perspective of his older sister Heather, this documentary seeks to understand Brian’s personality beneath his disability. The Limits of My World is an autistic coming of age story, exploring what it means to be a nonverbal disabled person in a neurotypical society.
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Best Narrative Short Film award went to 'Elisa' (Germany) by Kristina Kean Shtubert. 'Elisa' portrays the claustrophobic and extremely painful relationship between nine year old Elisa and her mother. At night, Elisa scratches herself raw. This drives her mother insane. However rather than to see this as a sign that something is wrong, she demands Elisa stop. Does the mother's anger provoke further scratching, or is it the other way around? The little family begins to break apart and Elisa's mother clumsily attempts to keep their life in order, but it has gotten out of control. An undefinable force is splitting them apart.
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'The Velvet Underground Played at My High School' (United States) by Robert Pietri, Tony Jannelli was awarded as Best Documentary Short Film. This animated documentary is the story of the Velvet Underground's disastrous first public performance. While on stage for merely 20 minutes, The Velvet Underground performed three songs: 'There She Goes', 'Venus in Furs', and 'Heroin'. The Summit High School audience responded with, as a band member recalled in 1983, a 'murmur of surprise that greeted the appearance' that 'increased to a roar of disbelief as the band started to play' which'swelled to a mighty howl of outrage and bewilderment...' Half the audience walked out.
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The Best Animated Film award went to 'Vacuum' (United Kingdom) by Gabriel Lim. Using his innate skills in perfumery as a form of escapism, Antoine navigates through scrutiny in an oppressive world controlled by a government that aims to narrow down the human senses.
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'Sculpt the Motion' (Italy) by Devis Venturelli won Best Experimental Film. Sculpt the motion shows continuous transformations of metallic bodies through different urban plans. Contemporary architecture is a scenario for a performance, an experience as a sculptural promenade in a continuous flux. Silver strata of insulating material in action through the body change in mobile sculptures evoke Boccioni's Futurist dynamism.
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Best Music Video award went to 'Son Lux // The Fool You Need' (United States) by Jean-Paul Frenay.
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Best Italian Film award went to 'Mon amour, mon ami' (Italy) by Adriano Valerio. Daniela and Fouad are two wounded souls. Their meeting has marked the beginning of a healing friendship, or perhaps, of a love story. A white wedding between them seems about to happen, till the ambiguity of Fouad’s feelings starts worrying Daniela. The film begins at this moment.
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Running during, but independent from the Venice Film Festival (Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica), the Venice Film Week focuses on the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the intuitive, the innovative, the minimalistic and the true artists of our time. The 2018 edition marks the most successful edition to date with a record number of attendees (practical full house for all screenings) and the generous support by the Città di Venezia, Circuito Cinema and media partners such as Evenice, VeneziaToday, Venezia360, La Voce Di Venezia and Il Gazzettino.
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See you all next year.