A “Look” on Palestine. Open call for submissions to the 2018 NAZRA Palestine Short Film Festival
Venice, February 1, 2018 – After the success of its first 2017 edition, multicultural traveling festival “NAZRA Palestine Short Film Festival” opens the call for short films submissions coming from/relating to Palestine for its second edition.
Promoted by Restiamo Umani con Vik (Venice), École Cinéma (Naples) and Centro Italiano di Scambi Culturali-VIK (Gaza city – Palestine), “NAZRA” (in arabic “Look”) is a short film festival seeking to encourage the artistic and cinematic skills of young authors, both Palestinian and international, who use the language of short film to deal with topics such as freedom, justice, human rights, and self-determination in the sensitive frame of Israeli-Palestinian situation.
The “NAZRA Palestine Short Film Festival” aims to be an opportunity for authors with great artistic skills but lacking sufficient financial resources; its goal is indeed to promote the young Palestinian cinematic production, while highlighting its excellencies, which are often not accessible to the general public due to the lack of adequate distribution. Thus, Nazra is meant to raise awareness on the social and political situation in Palestine, also through the contribution of international authors whose works focus on the human rights violation daily experienced by Palestinian people.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
All works by Palestinian and international authors whose contents deal with political, historical, social and cultural issues related to Palestine are eligible for entry. Deadline to submit the short films to the Festival’s secretary is April 30, 2018. More info on the participation rules on https://nazrashortfilmfestival.com/call/
Each film can be submitted to one of the three competition categories: fiction, documentaries and experimental works. Particularly interesting works will be also awarded with special mentions: “Gender look” (prize for films about gender issues); “Press look” (special mention by the Journalists jury) and “Solidarity look” (special mention and “Vittorio Arrigoni” prize donated by Fondazione Vittorio Arrigoni – Vik Utopia ONLUS).
Shortlisted films will be selected by experts within the festival’s organization; winners will be chosen by an international jury composed by prominent figures of Italian and Palestinian culture and cinema.
The award ceremony will take place in Venice during the opening nights of the festival on October 2018. The projections and cultural initiatives of the Nazra Palestine Short Film Festival will continue in the other Italian and Palestinian cities involved in the project. Some of them will also host the cultural exchange program in high schools and universities, where a youth jury will be also appointed.
In the wake of last year’s edition, the 2nd NAZRA Palestine Short Film Festival aims at collecting the best of the artistic production of short films by Palestinian and non-Palestinian authors promoting their diffusion during its itinerant journey while carrying messages of multiculturalism, peace and justice.
For further information:
press office: ceciliadallanegra@gmail.com
e-mail: nazrafilmfestival@gmail.com
website: http://www.nazrashortfilmfestival.com