Cupids wins the Best European Film award at the Assurdo Film Festival 2018.

Hello there Cupids lovers,

I’m super excited today to write this blog, because I would like to share with you my latest experience at the Assurdo Film Festival 2018, where our short film didn’t only screen, but also won its first award!

But let me start from the beginning.

Assurdo Film Festival is a newborn festival that took place on the 5th and 6th of April 2018, in the city of Cinisello Balsamo - Milan, Italy.

"The mission of the Absurd Film Festival is to show the absurdity in every day’s life with films that do not shout, but tell you a story with kindness and style"

Paolo Casarolli – Festival Director

Despite being in its first edition, this festival shows a great potential.

First of all the venue is the gorgeous Cinema Pax, a 500 seats venue that operates as a Cinema and Theatre stage. The screen is huge and the view excellent, and a small and nice lobby at the entrance works well to meet the Festival team and the audience before and after the events.

The Festival screened about 10 short films each day and I have been able to attend only the second day, the 6th of April, when Cupids screened.

As soon as I arrived at the venue, I’ve been welcomed by Paolo Casarolli, the Festival Director, a young and energetic guy that I really think fully impersonates the spirit of the Festival.

And if you follow the sequence of the three faces of the above picture from left to right, you’ll have an image not only of the spirit, but also of the overall mood of the night!

I have to say these guys really did a great job in promoting the event. The graphics were excellent and the communication extraordinary. I think a big part of the success of this first edition is due to the hard work of their marketing team in giving the festival a fresh and funny feel. Have a look at the program below (I’m sorry it’s only in Italian):

Cupids was the third film screening that night, and before the screening the Festival’s host Giuseppe called me to introduce the film in front of the audience.

Then, after the screening, he also called me back to receive the award for Best European Film.

I’m particularly proud to have received Cupids first award on this festival because by watching the selection of films screened, I think they have in common the style of storytelling and humor that I want to achieve with my work. So I want to take this as a sign that I’m heading to the right direction.

And obviously, keep going!

Also, within all the great films screened, two of them stood out to me for their creativity and quality.

The first is “Il Tamaringo” by Stefano Valentini and Alessio Pagliaro, who won the award for Best Short.

I loved the great use of comedy timing and the subtle satire to the Cinema medium itself.

The second one is the winner of festival who took home the Best Film award:

"Gustav" by Ken Williams and Denis Fitzpatrick.

A beautifully shot and superbly acted short film about a young man who wakes up with a strange tune stuck in his head.

Special mention goes to Niccolò Gentili, a natural born comedian who entertained the whole theatre when he received the award for Best Italian Film for his bilingual “Volevamo fare ‘U Cinema” which, to put it short, is the story of two guys “stalking” the Italian film director Marco Bellocchio (Niccolò, if you are reading this, consider that I oversimplified! :D )

To conclude, this was a great festival that I’m very happy to have attended in person. I left with the promise of submitting another film next year and I want to keep that promise, also because I would love to see how the festival grows and I’m sure there will be other fun and clever films on their program.

I leave you by reminding that if you haven’t watched our short film yet, then you can just click on the link below to do it