The festival’s international competition is preceded, as usual, by Insula – Impressions of Sicily, the section devoted to short films by Sicilian directors or set in Sicily.
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In 2022, the collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts of Catania led to the birth of Eksperimenta, a section dedicated to video art and experimental cinema that aims to revive among the students of the Academy the function of audiovisual research and experimentation, but also to familiarise them with the creative, productive and distributive paths of the festival circuits.
The event, scheduled for Wednesday 15 November at the premises in via Franchetti 5, will see a selection of works realised by the students compared to that of international authors plus a focus on Uta Dag, stage name of Laura D’agate, visual artist, illustrator, graphic designer and video artist.

The films:
Il cranio e il corvo (The skull and the crow)
Alessia Bersola, Andrea Antoci, Camilla di Blasi, Chiara Monteleone, Christian Frittitta, Elena Romano, Luana Gorgone, Noemi Napoli, Regina Lauriola, Sabrina Magrì
IT, 2023, 10′
Short video re-enactments of Basil Dearden’s 1963 film of the same name by the students of the Video Art course.

L’isola (The Island)
Alberto Pitruzzello, Beatrice Manfré, Francesco F. Scuderi, Giovanni L. Trombetta, Giuseppe Barcellona, Jacopo Bianca, Marco M. Marino, Mario Cosentino, Samuele Nicolosi, Sara Passalacqua
IT, 2023, 10′
Short video re-edits of the 2006 film of the same name by Pavel Lungin by the students of the Videoart course.

Non credo (I don’t believe)
Alberto Vecchio, Dennis Grassia, Federica Costanzo, Felice F. Scuderi, Giovanni L. Trombetta, Leonardo Amore, Marco M. Marino, Sabrina Magrì, Samuele Nicolosi, Tancredi Messina
IT, 2023, 10′
10 experimental videos based on field interviews and linguistic contaminations.

Focus on Uta Dag

Imaginary bridge | IT, 2013, 33’’

LDV | IT, 2013, 34’’

Oh my God | IT, 2010, 17’’

Shopping bloom | IT, 2012, 10’’

Loveless | IT, 2013, 33’’ 

Looser peel | IT, 2013, 25’’

I lavori di Emme | IT, 2016, 35’’

Warning | IT, 2013, 14’’

The end (of romance) | IT, 2013, 41’’

International Competition – three-day programme

THURSDAY 16 NOVEMBER h 20.30 – Margherita Multisala, Acireale

Di ogni bene, Pablo Solari, Italy, 2023, 14’

La Perra, Carla Melo Gampert, France / Colombia, 2023, 14’

Mira niño, Sergio Avellaneda Belmonte, Spain, 2022, 13’

Just the two of us, Clara Lemaire Anspach, France, 2022, 19’

Stock, Alexei Dmitriev, Germany / Russia, 2022, 5’

Nothing holier than a Dolphin, Isabella Margara, Greece, 2022, 17’

Deadline, Idan Gilboa, Israel, 2023, 12’

Stains, Sofie Krogh Grud, Denmark, 2023, 19’

Desertion, Ajac Kalantar, Iran, 2023, 10’

FRIDAY 17 NOVEMBER h 20.30 – Margherita Multisala, Acireale

Anticlimax,  Nestor Lopez & Oscar Romero, Spain, 2023, 19’

Le Cri du Silence, Camille Anne, Julie Vandenbergue, Martin Laurent, Elisa Torris, Camille Leroy, Lucas Foutrier, France, 2022, 7’

Psychicken, Ata Mojabi, Iran/ Italy, 2023, 14’

Power Signal, Oscar Boyson, USA, 2022, 20’

Airborne, Andrzej Jobczyk, Poland, 2021, 8’

Riad, Yann Verburgh, France, 2022, 14’

Perder, Rubén Guindo Nova, Spain, 2023, 9’

Caro Mostro, Stefano P. Testa, Italy, 2023, 16’

Pisanka, Jorge Yúdice, Spain, 2022, 16’

SATURDAY 18 NOVEMBEr h 20.30 – Margherita Multisala, Acireale

68.415, Antonella Sabatino e Stefano Blasi, Italy, 2022, 20’

Empty Little People, Mikai Geronimo & Josh O’Caoimh, EIRE, 2021, 2’

Cul-de-sac, Francesco Gabriele, UK, 2023, 11’

Anhad, Niranjan raj Bhetwal, Nepal, 2022, 14’

Pig, Jörn Leeuwerink, Netherlands, 2022, 8’

Green Fit, Maxime Pistorio, Belgium / France, 2022, 18’

File, Sonia K. Hadad, Iran, 2022, 20’

Lights, Jitka Nemikinsová, Czech Republic, 2023, 9’

Carpenter, Xelîl Sehragerd, Iran / Kurdistan, 2023, 14’

Lorenzo Daniele – president of the Jury

He graduated from the University of Catania in Humanities (specialising in Archeology), while at the same time keeping alive his great passion for photography by producing photo reportages of travels in Central Europe, Cyprus, Libya, Croatia and Ireland. 

Between 2004 and 2006, he underwent internships at RAI and MEDIASET television productions, where he developed his expertise in the field of directing. Back in Sicily, he worked as a director and television author for the satellite channels Sicilia International and SET.

In 2008 he founded the photo and video production company “Fine Art Produzioni’, specialising in directing documentaries focused on archaeological and historical-artistic themes. His film works have participated in numerous international film festivals, winning important prizes and awards. Since 2011 he has been teaching courses and seminars on the communication of cultural heritage through the audiovisual medium and workshops on archaeological cinema for the School of Specialisation in Cultural Heritage and the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania. Since 2019 he has been a trainer within the National Film School Programme “Cinema e Immagini per la Scuola”. 

In collaboration with the archaeologist and screenwriter Alessandra Cilio, in 2011 he founded the Licodia Eubea Festival of Communication and Archaeological Cinema, an event for which he is artistic co-director. 

He is president of the Coordinating Committee of Film Festivals in Sicily (FCS) and publisher of web TVs, film productions and newspapers.

Marcella Silvestri

She began her career as a theatre actress in 1984 in various productions with Ugo Dighero, Carla Signoris, Maurizio Crozza and Giorgio Gallione. She studied acting, singing, dancing and dubbing, the latter of which would later become her main occupation in various dubbing studios in Milan. 

Her extremely versatile voice is particularly used in the dubbing of cartoons, manga and video games (she is Sabrina in E’ quasi magia Johnny, Harley Queen in the Batman animated series, Rossana in Rossana, Krillin in Dragon Ball, Doremì in Magica Doremì, Lady Nera in Sailor Moon and Lamù in the OAVs of the same name).

Since 2004, in pair with Marcella Cesena and later also with Simona Garbarino, she has performed numerous sketches in all the Gialappa’s Band programmes, including Sensualità a Corte where she plays Cassandra: they are currently on air on TV8 in the Gialappa’s Show. She is the official voice of the Mediaset channel ‘LA5’.

Giovanni Tomaselli

A director and videomaker, he graduated in Communication Sciences with a thesis titled “Cinema as a subversive art”. At la.mu.s.a. (the multimedia laboratory for audiovisual experimentation at DI.SU.M., University of Catania) he worked as a camera operator and video editor from 2006 to 2011.

He created and organised for eight years “alcinemamai”, a film retrospective at Teatro Coppola in Catania, aimed at reviving films that are invisible or not distributed in Italy and promoting works by local directors. 

One of the founders of the collective of video artists Cinepila, he collaborates permanently with the video artists’ collective Ground’s Oranges. He has written and directed music videos for Colapesce and Dimartino, Max Gazzè, Levante, Ermal Meta, Zen Circus, Cesare Basile, Cordio, Edy, Skom and more, winning awards at Pesaro, Sulmona, Cortinametraggio and Inventa un Film. He is the director of the sequence ‘Speedy Pizzo’ within the feature film ‘La Primavera della mia Vita’, directed by Zavvo Nicolosi.

LORENZO VECCHIO AWARD
The Lorenzo Vecchio Award is named after the creator of Magma, who passed at the young age of twenty-three, after directing the first three festival editions. The main festival award – which comes with a cash prize and an ornamental plate especially designed for Magma by Ceramiche De Simone.

AUDIENCE AWARD
The festival-goers will be able to rate each film through online voting forms made available at the start of each festival night to let them have a say in the choice of the international competition winner.

SPECIAL MENTIONS
The Magma Jury will also give some special mentions to those short films in competition standing out in artistic and technical qualities.

INSULA AWARD
Now in its fifth edition, the Insula Prize will be awarded to the best Sicilian short film chosen by the audience .

The enjoyment of cinema among young people constitutes a moment of fundamental importance for their cultural enrichment and personal growth: cinema stimulates the imagination and curiosity, and is an extraordinary form of communication through which to convey important values for the educational path of young students.

Magma Youth is the section of the festival dedicated to young audiences: on Friday 17 November at the Margherita Multisala in Acireale there will be a special screening of films specially selected for students, characterised by the presence in the auditorium of some of the directors, with whom brief debates will be held with simultaneous translation into Italian. Students attending the screenings will be asked to write a review of one of the short films seen during the morning; the best review will be awarded a special prize.