Venice, March 22nd, 2025. The eagerly awaited masterclass of Roberto Catani, an illustrator and animator from the Marche region who was interviewed on the Auditorium stage by Andrijana Ružić, took place yesterday as part of the 15th edition of the Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival. During the meeting, his works were also presented following two lines, distinct in terms of realization techniques and themes covered. The first short screened was also his first work, Il pesce rosso (1995), for which the author admitted his initial fears about animation. This is the reason why its duration is only one minute. The technique used is traditional and time-consuming, since it is based on the use of black cardboard, that makes transparency impossible, but it also has the advantage of bringing an element of unpredictability. In contrast, the second group of works is characterized by a different method. Needing more realism, here Catani employs both white paper and great precision. La testa tra le nuvole (2013), for example, is an autobiographical story of a less-than-traditional childhood, illustrated through dreamlike, almost Fellini-like images. Despite his success and the many awards he has received, Catani confessed at the end of the masterclass that he wants to stop making animated films for the time being, as the technique he uses is very tiring and requires thousands of hand drawings. He also admitted though that he has ideas in case he goes back to his steps.
Today, on the final day of the festival, the last six short films from the International Competition were screened, starting from Argentina's Línea de flotación – Waterline, the result of a collaboration between Buenos Aires University directors Lucila De Oto and Gastón Bonalve. The short film is part of the young filmmakers’ project to create content that is focused on political and environmental themes, and it follows a police chase of a young man, whose father was murdered during a protest for the environment. Next, 3MWh by Czech director Marie-Magdalena Kochová was showcased, a tense story about a nuclear power plant employee who imposes himself a limit on the amount of energy he can consume over his lifetime. Using what the director defines a "multi-layered" narration, the explored themes are the fear of death, the rationality of science, and humanity's drive toward spirituality. The screenings continued with France's Crac!, a short film by Dimitri Martin Genauden, where an unexpected bond between an abandoned beetle and a man is narrated through retro-style stop motion. Lunge by Negar Hassanzadeh, on the other hand, has brought to the screen the political tensions between Iran and Israel through the use of the sport. By using a world fencing competition as a metaphor, this emotionally powerful short film delves into themes of identity and resilience.
The Competition then went on with the Spanish short film Cura sana by Lucía G. Romero, an autobiographical story rooted in the Cuban director's heritage; it follows two sisters, victims of domestic violence, as they embark on a journey during the night of San Juan, transforming their relationship from one based on pain to one based on love. The last short film of the day was Heart Flutters by Polish directors Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński, whose story follows a kind-hearted yet impulsive boy who, driven by anger, makes the wrong decision and must face the consequences of his violent actions.
The last special event was the eagerly awaited The World of Marco Bellocchio, celebrating the 60-year career of the Italian director. The journalist and film lecturer Anton Giulio Mancino introduced the audience to Bellocchio's cinema and presented the four short films screened during the program: Clowns (2016), The Fight (2018), May I say? (2019) and May I say? 2 (2024), all made as part of the high-level film training course Bottega XNL - Fare Cinema. Marco Bellocchio, unable to attend due to commitments on the movie set, sent a video message to explain the importance of these four short films for him, defining them as a sort of personal diary characterized by extreme freedom and vivacity, thanks to the contribution of all the young people who contributed to them.
The 15th edition of the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival will end this evening with the awards ceremony, which will be accompanied by a musical performance by Musicafoscari, the Ca’ Foscari music project active since 2010 and directed by Daniele Goldoni, which will soundtrack a silent “short” movie classic, Cops (1922) by Buster Keaton.
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