Italian animator, director and illustrator Simone Massi (who was awarded the 2012 David di Donatello for Best Short Film), is the author of the new opening sequence of the 69th Venice International Film Festival (August 29 - September 8, 2012), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.

 

The new opening sequence (30 seconds obtained from 300 hand-made drawings that hint at Fellini, Angelopoulos, Wenders, Olmi, Tarkovsky, and Dovženko) will be presented in Rome on Thursday, July 26, at the official press conference of the 69th Venice Film Festival.
The new opening sequence of the Venice Film Festival is conceived as a long tracking shot, as it always is in Simone Massi’s shorts. The first image is a boat that seem to come straight out of the final shot of  Fellini’s And the Ship Sails On: a child is fishing for images, visions, film memories, standing next to the Fellinian rhinoceros. The sequence then tumbles into a cinematic dream peopled with figures and characters from Eternity and a Day, The Tree of Wooden Clogs, The Sky over Berlin, Stalker, Arsenal. These images are particularly dear to Simone Massi, and he pays a tribute to them by appearing at the end of the film to rip the sky-screen and wear it as a cloak.

 

One of the last pioneers of stop motion animation, Simone Massi (Pergola, 1970) has won over 200 awards in major national and international festivals, and is today considered one of the most important makers of animated short films.

An independent animator, he studied film animation at the Urbino School of Art. In 15 years he has conceived and created (by himself and entirely by hand) 15 animated films that have been shown in 54 countries and will be screened at the 69th Venice Film Festival along with his still unreleased Animo resistente.

Massi does not use computers for his work, everything he does is hand-drawn on paper, using pencils, charcoal, coloured chalk, crayons, graphite and India ink. The "scratch" technique adopted in his latest works - which allows him to complete no more than 6-7 drawings a day - working hard from morning till night – means that an 8-minute short requires two and a half years of work.

In November 2011 he completed the animated short Dell'ammazzare il maiale, which earned a special jury mention at the 29th Turin Film Festival, and was screened at the 41st edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival. In April 2012 Dell'ammazzare il maiale was awarded the David di Donatello for best short film.

In June 2012, for the celebratory section Un minuto al termine of the 20th (and last) edition of Rome’s international short film festival, Arcipelago, Massi created the short Lieve, dilaga along with filmakers Pappi Corsicato, Edoardo Winspeare, Davide Marengo and Gianluca Arcopinto.

In 2009, his short Clouds, hands (Nuvole, mani) was presented at the 66th Venice Film Festival in the Corto Cortissimo section, and later earned a nomination at the 2010 David di Donatello and a special mention at the 2010 Silver Ribbons.

His earlier and best-known works include Tengo la posizione (2001, inspired by Pavese and Lettere dei condannati a morte della Resistenza), Piccola mare (2003, with narration by Marco Paolini) and The memory of dogs (La memoria dei cani, 2006), which won critical acclaim at many international festivals.

Massi created the opening sequence with the help of Fabrizio Tassi. The original soundtrack was written and performed by Francesca Badalini, while the sound-design is by Stefano Sasso. Julia Gromskaya was behind the camera and Lola Capote-Ortiz was in charge of post-production.

Immemoria (1995, 1'00")

In aprile (1995, 2'00")

Millennio (1995, 2'00")

Racconti (1996, 2'00")

Niente (1996, 2'30")

Keep on! Keepin' on! (1997, 3'00")

Adombra (1999, 11'00")

Pittore, aereo (2001, 4'00")

Tengo la posizione (2001, 4'00")

Piccola mare (2003, 4'00")

Io so chi sono (2004, 3'00")

La memoria dei cani (2006, 8'00")

Nuvole, mani (2009, 8'00")

Fare fuoco (2010, 10’)

Dell'ammazzare il maiale (2011, 6'00")

Animo resistente (2012, 4’)