Italian fest bestows award on ‘Song Sparrow’

Iran-Denmark short animated film ‘Song Sparrow’ has succeeded to win award at the 2020 ValdarnoCinema Film Festival in Italy.

The 38th ValdarnoCinema filmfest bestowed the “Marzocco Award” upon Farzaneh Omidvarnia from Iran for her multiple award-winning animation.

According to the festival, the “Marzocco Prize” is the symbol of the City of San Giovanni Valdarno, named Marino Borgogni, and is given to the best film ever.

The jury statement on the animation says, “Poetic and heartbreaking. More incisive than an extreme documentary of social denunciation. A slow and detailed description/ exploration of the camera on dreams, desires, feelings, expectations of a group of illegal immigrants interpreted by poignant and tender puppets. Every blink of an eye, glance, and ripple of the tissues brings us incredibly closer to the human than the human itself.”

Also produced and written by Omidvarnia, the joint production is qualified for Oscar 2021 after winning the Best Short Animation Award at the 20th Lebu International Film Festival in Chile, which is an Oscar-qualifying festival.

‘Song Sparrow’ is about a group of refugees who try to reach themselves to a safe country in search for a better life. They pay a smuggler to convey them across the boarders in a fridge truck. However, the freezing temperature of the truck turns their hopes for a better future into a fierce struggle for survival.

This film, which uses puppet animation, is about real events which happened in Austria in August 2015 and in Ireland 2019.

The animated short flick has been already acclaimed internationally and won prizes in different festivals, including best short animation award at the 2019 Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, a special mention at the Cortile International Short Film Festival in Italy, best animated film award at Festival Internazionale del Cortometraggio in France as well as a special mention at MyArt Film Festival in Italy. 

Founded in 1983, the ValdarnoCinema Film Festival is a competition program that deals with vision and film production.

MM/FM