Category: Best Experimental Film – 2024 WSXA BARCELONA

Original Film Title: Regina: Scacco al Re

Director’s Name: De Giorgi, Sergio Vespertino

Writer’s Name: De Giorgi, Sergio Vespertino

Producer: ASSOCIAZIONE VITA ONLUS

Country of Origin: Italy

Country of Filming : Italy

Language: Italian

Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes

Film Description:

This documentary film expresses the will and commitment to sharing, through the story of emotions and experience, the context of the socio-cultural event ‘Queen: “Check the King”‘, and with it re-present the testimonies of the victims of gender violence and feminicide.
Especially that of Stefania, who asked that her experience be of help to other women who experience or have experienced similar domestic violence.
It is the desire to put one’s suffering at the service of others: a way to overcome it and prevent other people from experiencing similar pain.
The event we are describing, developed with the theatrical communication formula (let’s not just call it a theatrical show), took place in Palermo on 27 May 2023 by the associations Vita Onlus of Milan and MarcoSacchi of Palermo, with the collaboration of Ennio Giganti, for the organization and planning part; Sergio Vespertino for the theater planning and direction and with the personal contribution of Dacia Maraini.
This film supports the commitment of all those who actively work against gender violence, with the aim of spreading the cultural, cognitive aspects and awareness of what still happens around us, so that everyone is no longer an extra in life of others, but can become a protagonist and actor by giving a concrete hand in helping victims of gender violence and helping to stop this social plague.
All this is presented with the concreteness of life, without pretending not to know or see. To address the issue responsibly, it is necessary to assume one’s share of objective responsibility, because everyone is still part of the Educating Community, which has the task of preventing, combating and reporting, without silence, shame or fear.
With the courage to do and testify; with strength to ask for help and help; with the commitment to promote a healthy sentimental and civil education, today we take the step, without shame, to report and ask for help.
Let’s keep alive the desire and hope that all this can soon end.

Original Film Title: BLIND FAITH: Moments of Missed Understanding

Director’s Name: Robert Scott MacLeay

Writer’s Name: Robert Scott MacLeay

Producer: Robert Scott MacLeay

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming : Brazil

Language: –

Runtime: 20 minutes

Film Description:

A performance art-based narrative that deals with the reaction to actions in a closed environment in which everyday actions and reactions (some positive, some negative) are drawn by chance by performance artists who are required to perform their chosen action/reaction sequentially in a completely honest manner in the moment. Once the initial action/reaction sequence completed the artists are free to follow the instincts awakened by the situation they created or to stop. The resulting narrative is presented behind a thin textured veil hinting that it takes place in another dimension, in another state of consciousness. The use of a neutral, seemingly hand-coloured palette and a slow, methodical tempo reinforce this sensation.

BLIND FAITH is a dream-like, non-linear narrative composed of one complete chance-based performance session peppered with extracts from two other sessions. It documents the complexity of messaging between two people, the interpretation of non-verbal communication and the difficulties inherent in reading messages that are not clearly articulated.

Original Film Title: HOME

Director’s Name: Kazumi Shimizu

Writer’s Name: Kazumi Shimizu

Producer: Izumi Nishikawa

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming : Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 20 minutes

Film Description:

As the evening descends, a man in his forties, bearing the semblance of a businessman, arrives at a quiet single-family home. His family, comprised of a wife who is a dedicated homemaker, a high school-aged daughter, and a 10-year-old son, each spend the fleeting moments before dinner in their own ways. A visit from the daughter’s classmate adds another dimension, joining the family circle.

Shortly after that, two deliverymen make their entrance. One of them hinders the daughter when she goes to fetch a package at the doorstep. Seizing the opportunity, the other accomplice abducts the daughter, transporting her away in a waiting car.

Simultaneously, in the living room, the family gathers for dinner. The daughter’s friend becomes a part of the gathering, and an elderly figure resembling a grandfather descends from an upper floor, taking a seat at the table. A seemingly ordinary family meal unfolds within the walls of this single “Home.”

Original Film Title: ART of NATURE 2 – Mother Earth

Director’s Name: Marc Fehse

Writer’s Name: Carsten Fehse

Producer: Marc Fehse, Carsten Fehse

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming : Brazil, Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Egypt, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, United States

Language: No Dialogue

Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes

Film Description:

A modern silent film about Mother Earth with electronic music accompaniment, which shows the world in its most beautiful splendor and the destruction of our earth by us humans. The artists emphasize the effect of the film with self-luminous costumes and instruments.

Original Film Title: I WAS THERE

Director’s Name: Chi Jang Yin

Writer’s Name: Chi Jang Yin

Producer: Chi Jang Yin

Country of Origin: Japan, United States

Country of Filming : English, Japanese

Language: English, Japanese

Runtime: 14 minutes 9 seconds

Film Description:

“I Was There” is a trilogy of experimental documentary films that explores the problem of radiation, our society’s fading collective memory of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the unresolved debate between ethics and science. These series concern the immediate effects of weaponized nuclear technology, as invisible poison, on the human body.

Meditating on the survivor’s memories, “I Was There” (Part I) traces the experience of a physician for the past 70 years, who recounted his day as a rare witness when the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. The poignant and thought-provoking evidence of the secret war tactics reveals the human value during times of war in conflicts.

Saving American lives is the commonly known and acceptable narrative of why the United States government dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. However, this narrative contradicts the finding in personal and petitions letters, and arsenal photography housed at the Truman Presidential Museum. The evidence uncovers a rather surprising reason for testing the atomic bomb on humans – competing for war power against Russia and securing the US dominant role in global politics.

Original Film Title: Reimagined Volume II: Mahal

Director’s Name: Michaela Ternasky-Holland

Writer’s Name: Michaela Ternasky-Holland, Eleanor Thibeaux

Producer: VJulie Cavaliere, Ryan Genji Thomas, Lucas Smarker, Michaela Ternasky-Holland

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 17 minutes

Film Description:

Inspired by Philippine mythology, the story focuses on Apolaki, Mayari, Tala, and Hanan, the four immortal children of the recently passed creator god, Bathala. As each of these deities wrestle with the grief of losing Bathala, their all-powerful actions create ripples throughout the universe. Can the siblings come together to defeat their own pain and learn how to accept the devastating loss before the world their father entrusted to them suffers from a celestial catastrophe?