Filmfest Munich: Awards for LO SPAZIO BIANCO (The White Space) by Francesca Comencini and LE QUATTRO VOLTE by Michelangelo Frammartino
Berlin, July 4, 2010 – In a strong showing, two Italian productions honored
The One Future Award of the Interfilm-Akademie Munich went to Francesca Comencini for her new film Lo spazio bianco. In the motivation, the jury writes:
„Lo spazio bianco, the white space (interior space/cosmos, based on the eponymous novella by Valeria Parrella), reflects upon the issue of a "joint future" in the face of decaying traditional family structures.
The situation of Maria, an intelligent, not quite young teacher tied up in fleeting relationships is almost a paradigm for our modern Western society between independence and loneliness. Her balance breaks down when she becomes pregnant. Her child is born prematurely, in the sixth month. But what does "being born" mean? Survival in the incubator remains uncertain for a long time. Maria spends two months with her child in the hospital, caught between white curtains in a space of self-evaluation. In the loneliness of the „spazio bianco“, a reflection of the womb for the birth of the mother as well as the child, they both grow towards one another in a sort on initiation. Between retreat to an inner space and turning towards others, Maria has to face her existential fears, to find calm and to care for her unprotected child.
In a remarkable congruence of form and content, Lo spazio bianco involves the viewer in a very sensitive way in this process of self-creation, especially through its camera work and the editing, interweaving past, present, and future.“
The"One Future Award" honors a film from the complete program that deals ethically and aesthetically with the topic of the indivisible future of this world. It was awarded for the 26. time in 2010.
Le quattro volte by Michelangelo Frammartino was awarded with the CineVision Award. The jurors Christa Saredi, Frazer Bradshaw and Jan Schulze-Ojala motivated their decision as follows:
"In lucidly composed images and a sound track taken entirely from Nature, the film narrates scenes from an archaic world that still exists in our time. With close attention to detail it observes the connection between people and animals in a remote Southern Italian village - and meditates at the same time on daily life and big topics sich as Nature and Religion, life and death without patronizing the viewer. It is a pure cinematografic adventure - an invitation to the freedom of seeing.“
The CineVision Award is confered by an independent jury for the best first or second movie of particular excellence and is endowed with EUR 12.000. The prize money is furnished by DZ Bank.
