The Finnish film Fucking With Nobody [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Hannaleena Hauru
fiche film] by Hannaleena Hauru, Italian work La Santa Piccola by Silvia Brunelli, Spanish movie Last Minutes by Pedro Collantes and He That Shall Not Be Named by America’s Ellie Foumbi are the four titles which will go through to the final stages of this 8th edition (2019-2020) of the Biennale College Cinema initiative, which is organised by the Biennale di Venezia in order to promote new talent in film, helping emerging directors to make micro-budget feature films. A new development this year is the number of films set to be awarded the Biennale’s support, which has now risen to four, at least two of which should come courtesy of female directors.

From 3 – 6 December, in Venice, the teams behind the four finalist projects - these teams consisting of the director and the producer of each of these works, and these works being chosen from among 12 titles selected from all over the world (Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, the US…) - will participate in the first of two workshops (with the second due to be held in January 2020).

Fucking With Nobody, directed by Hannaleena Hauru and produced by Emilia Haukka, tells the tale of five characters who are trying to get a foot in the door of the Finnish film industry and who cross paths during the planning of a fake marriage.

La Santa Piccola by Silvia Brunelli (producer: Francesca Maria Scanu –the director has been awarded the Eurimages bursary for this 8^th edition of the event) is the story of three girls who live their lives and dream their tiny dreams in a sunny district of Naples, which is also home to a baby girl whom everyone calls “la santa piccola” because she sees the Virgin Mary. Could she be the one who works a miracle and makes their dreams come true? This hope, however, proves to be none other than a lie which will end with the summer. The neighbourhood, meanwhile, awaits another saint to believe in.

Last Minutes by Pedro Collantes (producer: Daniel Remón) is the story of four different encounters, each taking place just a few moments ahead of a death. Each encounter turns out to be one character’s final human interaction before departing this world. Unaware of being on the threshold of death, the characters populating the film experience anger, love, lust, tenderness, greed or empathy, blissfully ignorant of the sword that hangs over them.

He That Shall Not Be Named, directed by Ellie Foumbi and produced by Joseph Mastantuono (France), tells of an antisocial African refugee whose tranquil existence in a sleepy mountain village in the south of France is overturned when she suspects the new parish priest is none other than the warlord who slaughtered her family.

The four selected projects will each receive €150,000 and will then be presented at the 77th Venice Film Festival (in 2020). Over the course of its previous seven editions, the Biennale College Cinema initiative has helped to make 22 feature films off the back of 1,640 applications from all corners of the globe.