SELECTED SHORTS
SHORT FilmS
Animated shorts for adults and children, 3 animated shorts designed for an audience of all ages,
with the common goal of entertaining and stimulating the imagination of both children and adults.
NUCLEAR CONTAMINATED RELEASE
A film by Yiwen Cao | Hong Kong 2024 | 9 min.
It’s a prophecy. When cows grow horns on their shoulders, pigs go blind, chickens have their heads on their tails, people grow three eyebrows and three hands, and natural disasters and plagues spread. Death comes so quickly that no one can react. But did it all happen in an instant? Repeated irresponsible emissions, repeated ignorance and condescension, repeated corruption and lies… The world is doomed to die. In reality, Pandora’s box was opened many years ago: when the first nuclearly contaminated waters from Fukushima were discharged.
Yiwen Cao
Director Yiwen Cao is a young filmmaker from Hong Kong, China, who wants to empower people mentally and hopes that audiences will use this power to change their real lives. She believes that every single life is precious and that we can learn a lot from the universe. Yiwen is convinced that this is not the first time that humanity has existed on this planet, but that each time it has been destroyed by selfishness. To avoid future tragedies, she believes we should do everything for the common good of humanity. Although it is her first experience directing animation, her film was screened and won the best film award at the Festival de Cannes-Animation Day, and another short film was presented at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival (qualified for the BAFTA). Yiwen Cao has been featured on the cover of Filmmaker Life magazine twice (August 2022 and February 2024), praised as “A pioneering filmmaker redefining cinema with purpose.”
Yiwen Cao | Hong Kong
SUPERTRAMP
A film by Fabrizio Gammardella |United Kingdom 2023 | 7 min.
Upon returning from school on a rainy day, little Paula saves her puppy Rudy from the street after finding him abandoned in a garbage bag. An immediate friendship is born between the two, broken by a cruel fate that sees them separated after a few days. Paula struggles to forget the little dog, who, once an adult, jumps from owner to owner always in the hope of finding her lost friend.
Fabrizio Gammardella
Born in Italy in 1985, Fabrizio Gammardella is an award-winning animation editor and director. In recent years he has produced and directed several animated films selected at numerous prestigious international film festivals, including those qualifying for the Academy Awards, BAFTA and Canadian Screen Awards. In 2015 he moved to London, where he worked as a video editor on a variety of productions, cutting projects ranging from branded content to commercials and short films. Brands he has worked for include Maybelline New York, McArthurGlen, Virgin, Just Eat, Selfridges, Insider, Lufthansa, Sky, Canon, Beck’s Beer, Mac, Givenchy, Harrods. Some of his works include the participation of famous actors such as Harry Kirton (Peaky Blinders), Lewis MacDougall (A Monster Calls), Paul Brennen (Alien 3), and actresses such as Caitlin Fitzgerald (Master of Sex), Stephanie Beacham (Dynasty), Victoria Yeates (Fantastic Beasts).
Fabrizio Gammardella | United Kingdom
THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS
A film by Ciara Leina’ala Lacy | USA 2024 |12 min.span,
A magical take on a true story, THE FLOWER QUEEN is a short animated children’s adventure that follows Emma, a Native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for Hawaii’s last monarch, Queen Lili `uokalani.
Ciara Leina’ala Lacy
Ciara Leina`ala Lacy is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, recently announced as a 2024 United States Artist Fellow. Her films have been featured at Sundance and Berlinale, as well as on platforms such as Netflix, PBS, ABC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian , the Atlantic and the Criterion Collection. You have also worked as a consultant for Ubisoft, Pixar and Quibi. She was the Sundance Institute’s first Merata Mita Fellow, and her work has been supported by Sundance, Tribeca, the Princess Grace Foundation, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Pacific Islanders in Communications, and Firelight Media. She continues to work on documentary content for television and streaming, expanding her intimate directing style into branded content, animation and storytelling.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS AT THE 2024 FESTIVALS
World premiere at the 2024 New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF).
Winner of the Audience Award – Best Short Film NYICFF 2024
winner of the Audience Award – Categories aged 8 and over NYICF3.5
Ciara Leina`ala Lacy | USA