28th and 29th OCTOBER 10 a.m.: ANIMOWEB MOVIES, L'UOVO BY DARIO PICCIAU, DOCUMENTARY FILM ON VIDEOGAMES, ANIMATED FILMS BY WOMEN ON THE THEME OF WOMEN AT SALA TRUFFAUT, VIA DEGLI ADELARDI 4.
During the last week of aniMOweb, films on WOMEN, the relationship between MEN and WOMEN and on VIDEOGAMES were proposed, thus reconciling in a cross-referential way the topics of aniMOweb 2004.
These films accompanied the projection of the movies submitted for the contest, which were inserted in a DVD to allow a cinema full screen vision. This DVD, containing all the participating movies of aniMOweb 2004, has been produced by Modena Province and edited by Mediarte. It will be offered during the celebration of 8th March 2005.
The projection of films at Sala Truffaut Cinema, Modena, Via degli Adelardi took place on 28th and 29th October from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with free admission. It is mainly dedicated to students. On Saturday, 30th October, before the official prize awarding ceremony due for 9 p.m., all these films were re-proposed with aniMOweb 2004 movies at Teatro San Carlo, from morning until the early evening.

A short video on the film review at SALA TRUFFAUT.

Here is a list of all the films:

L'UOVO (THE EGG)
The Egg it is the first Italian animated feature film in 3D. It was created by Director Dario Picciau with several softwares like Maya, Photoshop, QuickTime and After Effects with the help of a filter, in order to convey the special effect of a "painted animated" film.
The screenplay is based on the tale L'Uovo, which is about diversity and was written by Roberto Malini at the age of 16. Dario Picciau transferred the original setting in the 70s of the story to the 19th Century. The archetypal and timeless situation of the birth of a child of a couple of farmers is depicted. All the characters revolving around the story behave in a coherent way with their fundamental nature. An unexpected event will change their existence for ever. The idea that life should always be protected unconditionally is conveyed by the director.
This film has been selected in the main animation festivals all over the world (among which, for example, Annecy and Bologna Future Festival) and has won numerous prizes for the importance of the theme, the poetics and the extraordinary expressive quality of Dario Picciau.

DOCUMENTARY FILM "THE BEST 50 VIDEOGAMES EVER"
It is produced by Opificio Ciclope, a network of artists and directors from Bologna who built a video lab to employ low cost video technology, also sometimes obsolete, in a subversive or fetishist way. This documentary is like a 1 hour well-organised and well-presented TV program listing 50 different video games. Each is explored, told or simply shown in the time of one minute. The reference time ranges from what is considered the first video game of history ("Space Wars", a prototype built for leisure in the MIT labs in 1966) to the last versions for Cube or Playstation 2, even if a certain preference for what is considered the golden age of video games (the first Arcades, the first consolles, the years 1980-1985) cannot be denied. Different techniques were employed ranging from digital technique to filming and finally to mere post-production. The listing is a pretext to entice the spectator and it is a useful device to show the largest possible number of platforms in which the video games were produced, distributed and played. This has enabled the authors to place onto the same level games that are important for their popularity or for their originality.

WHEN THE DAY BREAKS
The short film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada, giant of high-quality animation, and was created by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis in four years of passionate work.
The two Canadian cartoonists used crayon and photocopied paintings creating an effect that reminds of the unsteady images of the cinema news of the 30s and 40s. Golden Palm at Cannes and Grand Prix at Annecy and Zagreb, nomination at Oscar Awards 2000, When the Day Breaks is the fascinating bitter and sweet story of Ruby, a female pig whose life unexpectedly changes after she is involved in the accidental death of a stranger.
With a great attention to details, the film focuses on the thin threads and the miraculous connections that keep tight and sustain our urban life, evoking the fragility of a new day, of every new day. Minimal events like an inattentive bumping into a stranger at the corner of a street and the subsequent dropping of a lemon can create the core around which a tragic story revolves.

LE REGULATEUR
It is the second short film in 3D created by Philippe Grammaticopoulos. It was recently presented at Annecy 2004 festival. The author lives and work in France and is an expert on 3D, graphics, cartoons. He has created some comics published by the most important French publishers of bandes dessines.
The film Le Régulateur is about the desire of a futurist couple to become father and mother. The man and the woman adopt a child by choosing detached pieces, using modern technology that enables them to do that. But the choice of pieces is not easy and the cherished child will not be so perfect as in the expectations of the couple. The effect of a super-exposed film creates the impression of the background getting closer to the shapes of the objects and characters. The latter seem to be "eaten up" by the setting. Music played with classic instruments highlights the feelings and actions of the characters, without recurring to dialogues, as in the best animation tradition.

GERALDINE
Produced in 2000 by ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), this mordant first film by the French cartoonist Arthur De Pins won numerous prizes in the animation festivals all around the world: grand prix (Malaga, Valencia, Dervio), audience prize (Limoges, Lion, Genzano, Valence), best film by a student (Annecy, Ottawa, Vancouver, Genzano).
The short film is about Gerald, who one day wakes up and realises he has become a woman against his will. He will soon have to learn how to live and "survive" with a female appearance….
The behaviour and male gestures that Gerald(ine) preserves, now unsuitable for his new body, are the cause for numerous gags. Helped by a friend who initiates him to the secrets of femininity, he gradually accepts his new identity. Geraldine rapidly becomes successful in society and reveals some stereotyped sexist ways in which women are treated by men. In the conclusion, Gerald will be able to live his new life enriched by experience.

HISTOIRE DE CESARIA
Created with an elegant black and white and paper drawings, it is the film with which Camille Henrot graduated at ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) in 2001. Special prize of the jury at the "Festival International du Film d'Animation de Annecy" in 2001, it is the story of how the greengrocer Cesaria, who spends her day with customers that annoy her and her private life with a man who ignores her, becomes conscious of her situation. She repeats the same actions everyday: she wakes up, she gets dressed, she goes to the market to her stall. Anxiety gradually grips and confounds her and takes the shape of a fragmentary vision of her body until the day she decides to free herself from these psychological and physical chains. Freeing herself from what oppresses her, she will be able to reach a new awareness.

UN JOUR
Created in 1997 by the French author Marie Paccou, this short film won numerous prizes all over the world: Auch, Angers, Montecarlo, Stuttgart, Tampere, Kiev, Barcelona, Hamburg and finally the European Film Academy Award. It tells the story of a couple from the point of view of the female partner. 'One day', the woman says, 'a man entered in my stomach…' This simple but brilliant idea of a man going through the stomach of a woman is depicted in a style of strong contrast between black and white.
The struggle to become accustomed to each other and the symbiosis that arises between the two people represent a positive situation in comparison with another example of less fortunate couple presented in the same film. However, in this apparently peaceful family life, the idea of a man who is taken everywhere inside the woman's stomach conveys the idea of a kind of parasite to her. When the man suddenly goes away, a void difficult to fill up is left to her.