Institutul Italian de Cultură

A hypnotic film of incredible visual appeal, BEAUTY animates classic paintings by artists such as Caravaggio, William Bouguereau and others in order to explore the main human experiences and feelings. Rino Stefano Tagliafierro starts from representations of innocence (infants, children and angels) which gradually evolve into studies of topics such as sexuality, pain, old age and death. All are highlighted by an ambient soundtrack that evokes inspirational and frightening feelings. The movie is a unique sensorial experience that revives classical works and delves into the essential duality of human nature, both demonic and divine. (Gabriela Lupu, BIEFF)

A beach frozen in time, as if in a snapshot: people enjoying the sun, a child eating ice-cream, a father taking his picture. But in the frame another character appears. Laboriously making their way out of the waters, a group of refugees crawl to the uncertain safety of the beach, escaping from near-certain death. Premiered at the Berlinale 2016 and inspired by a photograph by Juan Medina, Summer is an ingenious and sharp political commentary on the ongoing humanitarian crisis. By mixing 3D modelling and 16mm footage, it contrasts stasis and movement, moment and duration and reveals how liberating having your struggles acknowledged is and, conversely, how limiting photographs are in telling the stories we so readily consume. (Diana Mereoiu, BIEFF 2017)

A sailor dreams of a homeland he's never had and keeps shaping it day after day in his imagination. Inspired by Fernado Pessoa’s drama The Mariner, The Sailor reflects on the creation of its own story and the need to use an invented language to express it. In Giovanni Giaretta’s film, image, voice-over and subtitles deliberately fail to syncronize. The links between them are kept wonderfully ambiguous. Landscape stills are slightly abstracted by colour filters; a female voice speaks in Na'vi (the language invented for the film Avatar), and the subtitles muse on the relation between images, words and phantasy. Same as its main character who can no longer distinguish reality from yearning, The Sailor creates an intermedial realm, unwilling to obliterate the abundance of aesthetic and narrative possibilities by putting an end to the story. (Ioana Florescu, BIEFF 2018)

Fingers languorously part the lips of book pages, the straps of dresses fall off of milky skins, sensuous gazes entice the viewer in a sensual act of artistic voyeurism. Rino Stefano Tagliafierro returns to BIEFF with Peep Show, animating classical paintings as in his previous Beauty, this time narrowing his focus on the sensorial pleasures of erotic art. Balancing between the suggestive and the explicit in this mesmerizing homage to the history of art, the director explores sensuality across time and cultures, masterfully building and releasing the pleasurable tension of voyeurism. (Diana Mereoiu, BIEFF 2017)