Ca' Foscari's Short Film Festival’s 12th edition from 4 to 7 May 2022

The twelfth edition of Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival will be held from 4 to 7 May 2022 in Venice, in its traditional location, Auditorium Santa Margherita.

Once again the festival has renewed its partnership with Lorenzo Mattotti, an internationally renowned artist who created this edition’s poster, continuing its collaboration with famous Italian illustrators and comic book artists. In this year’s poster, a woman looks ahead to the future, just like the students who have experienced two difficult years because of the pandemic, and now wish to look ahead with hope. With tones that hint at the interpretation of the famous Chinese actress Gong Li, this poster is a homage to the cinema and to women, who — because of the winds of change that are sweeping through the film industry — are increasingly present in all the sections of the festival.

Lorenzo Mattotti was a member of Valvoline, the art group from Bologna that revolutionised Italian comics through the pages of ‘Alter Alter’, where Mattotti published some of the works that made him famous, including Il Signor Spartaco (1982) and Fuochi (1984). Mattotti was involved for a long time in the world of movies and made the drawings that link the episodes of the collective film Eros. He also worked on Pinocchio by Enzo D’Alo and directed the animated movie The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, which was screened in Cannes. Even though he has been living in Paris for years, Mattotti has maintained a special bond with Venice, where he lived during his university years and to which he dedicated the wonderful Venezia. Scavando nell’acqua (2011). In 2021, he received the ‘Gran Maestro del Fumetto’ Award, which is a sort of Special Academy Award for Career Achievement awarded by Lucca Comics & Games.

As usual, the Short Film Festival programme will include the International Contest. Thirty of the best short films made in film schools and universities around the world — a rich variety of retrospectives, tributes, and workshops. Japanese film director Tsukamoto Shin’ya (Tetsuo, Kotoko) will join the festival online to present his novel A Snake of June, which is inspired by the film by the same name released in 2002 and has been translated into Italian by Francesco Vitucci for Marsilio Editori. The novel is a thriller about violence and compassion. In this special meeting, Tsukamoto will talk about his literary career — which may be less known than his film career but is equally interesting — allowing the public to get a glimpse of his creative process in various fields of the world of art. 

This year, too, the Short Film Festival relies on the collaboration with Fondazione di Venezia and on a series of partners, including Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi and NH Venezia Rio Novo, joined by the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, WeShort —  cinema on-demand platform which has become the reference point for the world of short movies —  historic prosecco producer Carpenè-Malvolti, and Giornate della Luce di Spilimbergo, a festival dedicated to the masters of Italian cinematography.

The festival will pass through some of the most important cultural institutions of Venice, including museums, foundations and cultural centers, in addition to its main location, Auditorium Santa Margherita. Other locations will include Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Museo d’Arte Orientale – Ca’ Pesaro, Casa del Cinema del Comune di Venezia, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, NH Venezia Rio Novo and Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi.

The full programme of the twelfth edition will be announced by the artistic director and manager Roberta Novielli during the press conference for the presentation of the festival, which will take place in April.