Over the past week, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has taken place, where upwards of 20,000 people enjoyed an array of movies, shorts, presentations, and more. The event’s culmination was a ceremony in which several prestigious awards were presented. The winners were…
Asteroid Award
The Asteroid Award elects the best science fiction, horror, and fantasy film by emerging directors (first, second or third works) in the Neon section of the festival. The international jury was composed of Allison Gardner, Justin Lockey, and João Monteiro.
The winner was U Are the Universe directed by Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine, 2024). Synopsis: written and shot during the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, a true marvel and a far-sighted note on how important it is to have contact with a person who understands us during the darkest times. In the near future, space trucker Andriy Melnyk transports nuclear junk on a cargo ship bound for Saturn’s abandoned moon, Callisto. While in orbit, the Earth suddenly explodes and Andriy becomes the only living human. Until he receives a message from Catherine, a French meteorologist on a distant space station. Despite the odds, Andriy sets out to find her.
Méliès d’argent Award – Feature Films
The competition is organised in collaboration with the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) and is reserved for fantasy feature films of European production. The jury was Jeremy Dyson, Luna Gualano, and Cristian Solimeno.
The winner was After Us, The Flood directed by Arto Halonen (Finland, 2024). Synopsis: in 2064, the world is on the brink of an environmental catastrophe. The UN has developed a way to travel through time, transferring your personality and memories to the moment of birth. Henrik, a brilliant but narcissistic physicist, is chosen for the mission: he must publish the design of his nuclear reactor worldwide and thus prevent devastating climate change. But something goes wrong: Henrik is reborn in the wrong body and must live a new life. An engaging science fiction film that travels through time to investigate friendship, identity, greed and the reasons why man is still unable to stop climate change.
Méliès d’argent Award – Short Films
The competition is organised in collaboration with the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) and is reserved for short films of the fantasy genre of European production. The award is given to the short film that receives the most votes from the public.
Winner: Où Va Le Monde directed by Mickaël Dupré (France, 2024) Synopsis: in space, the captain of a crew accompanied by his faithful robot decides to abandon his duties to follow a creature called “Intuition”. The creature takes him to a strange and mysterious desert planet where he hopes to find the meaning of life.
Audience Award Winner The Begin Hotels TS+FF 2024
U Are the Universe directed by Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine, 2024)
Winner Wonderland Award – Rai4 TS+FF 2024
The Complex Forms directed by Fabio D’Orta (Italy, 2023) Synopsis: there is an ancient villa where desperate people can change their fate by selling their bodies to mysterious entities in exchange for money. When enormous, centuries-old creatures emerge from the grounds surrounding the villa, a series of strange and sinister events pushes three unlikely guests to band together to attempt a desperate escape. A science fiction work that is both sober and excessive, where the austerity of the unity of the place coexists with the wonders coming from Elsewhere, an existential limbo that has always existed but beyond the threshold of our perceptions.
Winner of the Italian Critics’ Award SNCCI TS+FF 2024
Things Will Be Different directed by Michael Felker (USA, 2024) Synopsis: brothers Joseph and Sidney find themselves in a diner after a daring robbery. To escape the police, they take refuge in an abandoned farmhouse where a time portal transports them to another dimension. Once the danger has passed, they try to return to their present, but a metaphysical force they must blindly obey separates them and abandons them to themselves. In addition to bending the laws of space and time, what happens to Joe and Sid will put their brotherly bond to the test. A sci-fi thriller full of plot twists, horrific darkness, and suspense.
Event Horizon Award Winner – INAF TS+FF 2024
U Are the Universe directed by Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine, 2024)
CineLab Spazio Corto Award Winner TS+FF 2024
Golden Shopping Arcade short directed by Francesco “Skino” Ricci Lotteringi (Italy, 2023) Synopsis: Carlo Nonessu works at the reception desk of a hospital owned by a multinational that does not admit patients without enough credit to pay for their treatment. When one day, out of pity, he lets in an elderly man with financial difficulties, the boss threatens to fire him.
For more information, head over to https://www.sciencefictionfestival.org/i-vincitori-della-24a-edizione-del-trieste-sciencefiction-festival/.
