The second edition of the Video Essay Film Festival (VEFF) will be one of the main proposals of cinema at MAXXI and will be held in the second half of June. VEFF is organized by the Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art, Performing Arts (SARAS) of the Sapienza University of Rome, the Fondazione Cinema per Roma and MAXXI – National Museum of XXI Century Arts.
The aim is to explore cinema, promoting a new form of criticism, analysis and reflection on the audiovisual made through images and sounds.
The contest, curated by Andrea Minuz and Mario Sesti, is open to all university students from national and international film academies and schools. But for 2021, this appointment, unique in Italy, adds a new section: Video Essay Classic. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”, the festival has decided to invite enthusiasts, scholars, cinephiles and students of film schools and university faculties to write a video essay on a film that has profoundly marked the contemporary world and the freedom and innovation of auteur cinema.
Participants will be able to:
1) propose a critical essay / video essay (on an author, a theme, a genre) delving into issues related to cinema and contemporary television seriality, focusing on the relationship between media and the arts, but also choosing more playful-experimental forms such as re-cut trailer, sweded trailer and mash up;
2) propose, in the same way, a critical essay / video essay dedicated to A Clockwork Orange.
The selected video essays will be part of two different sections: “Competition” and “Video Essay Classic”. In both cases, the audiovisual product must not exceed the maximum limit of fifteen minutes, including opening and closing credits.
The material submitted will be evaluated by a jury composed of critics, professionals from the world of cinema, TV and the web, and university professors, who will select, for both sections, three of the six best audiovisual products that will ultimately be screened during the Video Essay Film Festival at MAXXI.
Three categories will be awarded for each of the two sections: “Best video essay”, “Award for video form” and “Award for essay content”. The authors of the six video essays selected in both sections will receive complimentary accreditation to the next edition of the Festa del Cinema di Roma, while the winners will also receive an annual subscription to MAXXI.
The call for entries has been online since 25 January. The materials can be uploaded from 15 February to 23 May.
