The Italian Cultural Center of Minneapolis / St. Paul is proud to announce the 10 year anniversary of the Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis / St. Paul (IFF). To commemorate a decade of contemporary Italian cinema in the Twin Cities, the IFF will offer two award opportunities for the best short films made by emerging filmmakers living in Italy and in Minnesota.

The Building Bridges: Emerging Filmmaker Awards ask filmmakers to make short films about the history of their home environment in Minnesota or in Italy. The films submitted should, in part, draw on personal and collective memory, focus on significant events in the past or present, consider important or forgotten histories, and/or highlight the ways that places have changed over time. Films might also broadly consider how landscapes, demographics, geography, or traditions have been altered by shifting environments, both natural and social.

The goal of these new awards is to draw connections between the diverse communities and terrains in Minnesota and the people and places that define Italy’s cities and towns. We hope for a creative approach to these themes and welcome filmmakers’ interpretations and experiments.

The winners will be chosen by an esteemed panel of jurors, who will select two films: one made in Italy and the other made right here in Minnesota. Each winner will receive a cash prize and their film will screen at the 2018 IFF. To learn more about the submission process, please visit our Film Freeway page here.

We are now accepting submissions for the 2018 Building Bridges awards; submissions will close on December 1, 2017. If you or your business are interested in sponsoring the Building Bridges awards, please be in touch. For more information, please contact Michelle Baroody or Lorenzo Fabbri (see contact details below).

The 2018 IFF is scheduled for February 22-February 25, 2018 and all screenings will take place on the Film Society’s Screen 3 at Saint Anthony Main Theatre. A sneak peek of contenders for the 2018 Building Bridges Awards will screen at our annual IFF fundraiser, which will take place on December 1, 2017. Please contact ICC’s Events & Membership Director Tiziana Cervesato for more information about this event.

Film Freeway page: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/MinneapolisSaintPaulItalianFilmFestival

Film Festival Director: Michelle Baroody
email: [email protected]
mobile: 847.845.7729

Film Festival Curator: Lorenzo Fabbri
email: [email protected]
mobile: 949.910.6381

ICC Events & Membership Director: Tiziana Cervesato
email: [email protected]
mobile: 612.413.3970