Two thousand films proposed by over seventy nations, one hundred those admitted to compete in August in the Piacenza area for the coveted "Golden Donkey". Werner Herzog, Denis Villeneuve and Oscar winner Shawn Christensen have also participated in the past
The fourteenth edition of the Film Festival Competition, one of the most popular reviews dedicated to short films in Italy, staged from 22 to 29 August. In the traditional setting of Parco Raggio in Pontenure (Piacenza) and, for the first time, also in Piacenza itself: with the program of meetings with the directors and protagonists of the festival hosted in the former Enel building and the final evening, with the announcement of the winners, in the frame of Palazzo Farnese.
About two thousand films presented to the selection committee, arriving from over seventy different countries of the world; a hundred accepted works, including those out of competition and those destined to compete for one of the three prizes up for grabs. The Golden Donkey awarded by the festival jury to the best film, the Special Jury Prize, the Audience Prize and the “L'Onda” Prize, determined by the special young jury made up of local high school students.
As usual, the Concorto is accompanied by a rich program of events, meetings and performances. Like the live concert by Teho Teardo, leading name on the European industrial scene, author of soundtracks for films by Oscar winners Gabriele Salvatores and Paolo Sorrentino; and like the workshop conducted by the photojournalist and documentary maker Monika Bulaj.
The tradition that calls for an author's signature for the artist's posters of the festival is confirmed: in this 2015 the street artist Ericailcane interprets the theme of the donkey, symbol of the festival.
“Again this year, faithful to its mission of finding hidden pearls in the boundless and overcrowded landscape of international film production, Concorto has set off on a long, laborious, but exciting exploration” comments the festival president Paolo Ligutti “finally arriving at a selection of works that aims to represent the most distinctive features of a cinematic form open to experimentation, courageous, abstract, but at the same time extremely disciplined in its use of the (often few) means available".
PAST EDITIONS – From 2002 to today, dozens of directors and artists, emerging and already established, have confronted themselves with the dimension of the Concorto. Among them also the legendary Werner Herzog (in competition in 2010 with La Boheme), Yuri Ancarani (in competition in 2012 with Il Capo), Denis Villeneuve (in competition in 2010 with Next Floor) and Pippo Delbono (in competition again in 2010 with Blue Sofa, co-produced with Laura Fremder and Giuseppe Baresi). To win the Golden Donkey, in 2012, Shawn Christensen with Curfew: the same work that, the following year, will win the Academy Award for best short film.
