For its first edition curated by Tommaso Magnano, mAFF presented the state of audiovisual art through international authors, artists, and directors who will explore the theme of mater (MOTHER/MAMMA) with productions created between 2020 and 2025.
This was the call to which works of fiction, documentary, animation, experimental and video art from various parts of the world responded.
The special jury (comprising Diana Bagnoli, Gianluca De Serio, Christian Caliandro, Marla Francis and Chiara Pellegrini) has selected the six finalist shorts:
- Fresh oranges into the ocean
Silvia Giordano, Nuanda Sheridan (Italy)
- Talk to me
Yuliya Tabenska (Poland)
- The Scapegoat
Ali Fard (Iran)
- This is Raquel's Not-so-secret Diary
Raquel Agea Ramos (Spain)
- Two one two
Shira Avni (Canada)
- Ya Hanouni
Lyna Tadount, Sofian Chouaib (France)
Fresh oranges
into the ocean
Silvia Giordano,
Nuanda Sheridan
(Italy) 11:53
As they blend and intertwine with nature, three young girls give life to a metaphorical and visionary tale of their present condition and their projections towards the future. Through their lightness, disorientation, vitality, and strength, they embark on a choreographed journey through high and low tides, turbulence and contradictions, calm and agitation. Guided by absurd questions, the oranges reflect the protagonists' journey in their delicate transition to adulthood and they accompany us in a
poetic reflection on our lives.
Talk to me
Yuliya Tabenska
(Poland) 2:49
An animated stop-motion short created by a Ukrainian artist living in Poland, who is at the same time author, director, set designer and animator. The film is an adaptation of her illustrated book of the same name
and tackles the difficult topic
of depression in family, told from a little girl's point of view. The protagonists are a little girl and her mother struggling with depression. The story is told with empathy - subtly, without blame or stigma – and encourages dialogue about mental health, connection, and love.
The Scapegoat
Ali Fard
(Iran) 9:40
A woman in her forties, who confessed to the murder of her brother-in-law, returns to the crime scene with the investigation team to reconstruct the murder. In the backyard, she reenacts the murder in front of her son. At the end of the reenactment, and at the investigator's request, the son recounts the events, offering a different version of what happened.
This is Raquel’s
Not-so-secret Diary
Raquel Agea Ramos
(Spain) 6:00 PM
“I kept several diaries.
Ever since I was young,
and when I left home. One day I decided to reread them and I realized a problem: they always talked about only one topic - boys."
Two One Two
Shira Avni
(Canada) 4:00
Two One Two, from award-winning director Shira Avni, combines dazzling clay animation with glass with personal archives in this experimental and deeply intimate animated documentary: a love letter to motherhood, parenting on the autism spectrum and to the two-headed monsters everywhere.
Ya Hanouni
Lyna Tadount,
Sofian Chouaib
(France) 3:00
While a mother and
As fathers try to get their baby to sleep, a competition arises between them: who will be able to get the child to say his first word?
For the occasion, we thank
patronage
drink partner
