Biennale College Cinema 2021-22: four final projects selected

The selection has been made of the four projects, from Azerbaijan, Finland, Kazakhstan, Iran, Italy, USA, that will move on to the production phases of the films of the 10^th edition (2021 – 2022) of Biennale College – Cinema. The four teams, composed of a director and a producer, will participate starting today, Friday 3^rd through Monday December 6^th, in the first of two workshops. The completed feature films will participate in the 79^th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia 2022.

Overall, since the first edition of the Biennale College – Cinema launched in 2012, in 10 years La Biennale di Venezia has directly funded, with a grant of 150,000 euro each, 30 feature films by emerging directors following the receipt of 2000 submissions from all over the world (another 20 feature films were produced with personal funding). Following their premieres at the Venice Film Festival, many of these feature films have been presented and won awards at the major international festivals. Biennale College – Cinema is the Biennale laboratory that promotes new talents for cinema by offering them the opportunity to work in contact with the masters for the creation of micro-budget feature films (max 150,000 euro).

The following are the four selected projects, in alphabetical order by title:

• A Family Fixed With Gold – director Monica Dugo | producer Cinzia Rutson (Italy) – debut film
• Banu – director Tahmina Rafaella (Azerbaijan) | producer Katayoon Shahabi (Iran) – debut film
• Mountain Onion – director Eldar Shibanov (Kazakhstan) | producer Yuliya Levitskaya (Kazakhstan) – sophomore film
• Palimpsest – director Hanna Västinsalo (Finland) | producer Cyril Abraham (USA) – debut film

The four selected themes will participate in a second workshop from January 11^th to 17^th 2022. It will mark the beginning of the actual production of four micro-budget feature-length films with a grant from La Biennale of 150,000 euro each. The 4 films will be presented at the 79^th Venice Film Festival 2022.

The four final projects of the 10^th edition 2021-22 were chosen at the conclusion of the first workshop out of 12 projects selected from around the world. The following are the other projects in the selection:

• Better Days Under the Tall Simmering Sun
  Debut film - Dir: Claudia De Angelis | Prod: Mariagiulia Bocchini Padiglione (Italy)
• Deus Cherzat
  Debut film - Dir: Silvia Perra | Prod: Laura Biagini (Italy)
• La emperatriz
  Debut film - Dir: Agostina Gálvez (Argentina) | Prod: Victoria Marotta (Argentina)
• Once Upon a Time You Loved Me (former Milk & Honey)
  Debut film - Dir: Melissa Anastasi (Australia) | Prod: Bernadette Murray (Australia)
• Panah Khana
  Debut film - Dir: Seemab Gul (UK) | Prod: Abid Merchant (Pakistan)
• Problematik
  Debut film – Dir: Sifiso Khanyile (South Africa) | Prod: Tshego Molete Khanyile (South Africa)
• Resonance
  Debut film - Dir: Yordan Petkov (Bulgaria) | Prod: Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria)
• With Love and Squalor
  Debut film - Dir: Sogol Rezvani (Iran) | Prod: Kourosh Ataee (Iran)

The Biennale College – Cinema, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, enjoys the support of the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate Cinema. It relies on the academic collaboration of the Gotham Film & Media Institute (formerly known as IFP) and the TorinoFilmLab. The Director is Alberto Barbera, Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.