An engaging film from Italy, The Substitute (Il Supplente) was nominated for an Academy Award in 2008. The director, Andrea Jublin, plays the main character himself - a substitute teacher who seems to be more hormonal than his teenage class and instigates a series of crazy games in which students are marked on their ability to mimic animals... can this guy really be their substitute teacher?
Wrong Game was a finalist in one of the first FILMSshort competitions. By Maunel Succi, Wrong Game is a thought-provoking look at the problem of child soldiers, especially in Africa. Manuel is an Italian fimmaker based in London. He is a graduate of Video Design from the Instituto Europeo di Design in Rome. He describes his work as an exploration of how the "synchronization of forms, colors, light and sounds" can incite human emotion.
The Last Gunfighter (L'ultimo Pistolero) is directed by Alessandro Dominici and written by Sebastiano Mignone. I have a theory that the cinematic culture of Italy - espoused by the likes of Fellini - does not translate well to short films. In The Last Gunfighter, indebted to the Spaghetti Westerns, a solitary gunslinger walks through a desolate industrial estate before firing his gun for the last time.
Co-written by Umberto Contarello and Paolo Sorrentino, The Game Is Slow (La Partita Lenta) is a typically Italian feast of cinematic images. Fellini would be proud. Shot in black & white, with a fair amount of slow-motion, it follows a group of rugby players preparing to the backdrop of their domestic lives before taking to the pitch. It won the Audience Award at the 2009 Raindance Film Festival. You can watch more festival winning short films in the section.