Trieste Science+Fiction Festival

Trieste Science+Fiction Festival was founded in 2000 under the name of Science plus Fiction by the Research and Experimentation Centre La Cappella Underground with the ambitious purpose of re-launching the Festival Internazionale del film di fantascienza (International Science Fiction Film Festival), which had been held in the northern Italian city of Trieste in the years 1963-1982.

It is a multidisciplinary event devoted to the realms of the “fantastic”, to experimental languages and new technologies in cinema, television and visual arts. With a program rich in screenings, retrospectives, tributes, conferences and meetings with renown international and national professionals, it aims to explore the whole range of the science fiction world, from cinema to comics, from literature to stage performances.

Todd Brown describe it as "not just one of the world's leading science fiction festivals", but "one of the finest genre events in the world regardless of the genre in question".^[1]

Trieste Science+Fiction Festival annually awards the Asteroide to the best international feature film in competition. Moreover, in cooperation with the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation - that the festival joined in 2005 - it awards the Méliès d'argent (Silver Méliès) to the best European feature and short films in competition.

History

In 1963 a group of “young visual poetry artists” - as they were called by Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti in a goodwill cable still in the archives of La Cappella Underground – founded the Festival Internazionale del Film di Fantascienza (International Science Fiction Film Festival), a revolutionary event that brought a whole bunch of renown international stars to the city of Trieste.^[2][3] In those years, the festival saw the participation of Arthur C. Clarke, Roger Corman - whose X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes was awarded the Astronave d'argento (Silver Spacecraft) in 1963 -, Riccardo Freda, Forrest J. Ackerman,^[4] Umberto Eco (one of the 1963 Jury members) and Brian Aldiss, among others.^[5] In the following years, the event would turn the city of Trieste into a unique stage for genre films, until 1982, when it abruptly came to an end.

In the year 2000, La Cappella Underground decided to pick up the tradition of the festival, presenting to the audience independent film productions, premières and rarities in a new event called Science plus Fiction.

In 2002, in cooperation with Arnoldo Mondadori, editor of the sci-fi and fantasy magazine Urania, the Urania d'Argento (Silver Urania) Career Achievement Award was created. The first Silver Urania Award went to Italian director Pupi Avati.^[6] Over the year, the Award has been bestowed to: Dario Argento (2003),^[7] Jimmy Sangster (2004),^[8] Lamberto Bava (2005),^[9] Enki Bilal and Terry Gilliam (2006),^[10] Joe Dante (2007),^[11] Ray Harryhausen (2008, via videoconference from London),^[12] Roger Corman and Christopher Lee (2009),^[13] George A. Romero (2011),^[14] Alfredo Castelli (2012),^[15] Gabriele Salvatores (2013),^[16] Alejandro Jodorowsky (2014),^[17] Bruce Sterling (2015),^[18] Rutger Hauer (2016).^[19]

In 2004 the Festival picked up a new challenge by restoring the forgotten icon of the event that inspired it: the Asteroide Award, historical prize of the Festival internazionale del film di fantascienza di Trieste.^[20] In those years the award to the best film in competition was called Asteroide d’Oro (Golden Asteroid) and it was designed and crafted every year by a different artist (e.g., Nino Perizi and Marcello Mascherini), whose fame and talent was as exceptional as that of the sci-fi films and celebrities taking part in the Festival.

In 2005 Science plus Fiction became part of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation,^[21] a network including all the main events in the field and aiming at the promotion of the European genre production on a big scale.

In 2007 the festival updated its name to Science+Fiction (now Trieste Science+Fiction Festival) and has since then been characterized by an increasing range of events, not only including film screenings, but also side events related to science fiction (round tables, scientific conferences, concerts and stage performances, art exhibitions and literary events).

In 2009 Trieste Science+Fiction Festival festival launched the Méliès competition for feature films in addition to the competition of the same name reserved to short films.^[22]

The film schedule has always included a wide range of proposals bound to attract both fans and newcomers to the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. Over the years new sections have been added and as of 2016, besides the official section “Neon” that includes the latest releases and film premières in and out of competition, the Festival presents short films in and out of competition (“European Fantastic Shorts” and “Fantastic Shorts” sections), and “Spazio Italia”, a showcase of science fiction and fantasy Italian productions. Among the many retrospectives organized by the Festival: Brit Invaders! (2003-2005), on British science fiction from the 1960s to the present day;^[23] Marx Attacks! (2007, 2009), a showcase of Russian and Eastern European productions;^[24] FantaEspaña (2002), a focus on Spanish science fiction films, curated by Carlos Aguilar; Voyage Fantastique (2006-2008), a journey into French science fiction, in collaboration with the Institut français in Milan and the Embassy of France in Italy; Fant'America (2009) a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, two hundred years from his birth.

The event reaches a grand total of more than 20,000 spectators per year.^[25]

Awards

Asteroide

Year	Title	Director	Country
2004	Able Edwards	Graham Robertson	USA
2005	Puzzlehead	James Bai	USA
2006	Manga	Peter Khazizov	Russia
2007	Timecrimes (Spanish: Los cronocrímenes)'	Nacho Vigalondo	Spain
2008	Before the Fall (Spanish: Tres días)	F. Javier Gutiérrez	Spain
2009	First Squad: The Moment of Truth	Yoshiharu Ashino / Misha Shprits / Aljoscha Klimov	Japan /  Russia /  Canada
2010	Transfer	Damir Lukacevic	Germany
2011	Monsters	Gareth Edwards	UK
2012	Errors of the Human Body	Eron Sheean	Germany /  USA
2013	Europa Report	Sebastián Cordero	USA
2014	Time Lapse	Bradley D. King	USA
2015	Wyrmwood	Kiah Roache-Turner	Australia
2016	Embers	Claire Carré	USA /  Poland

Méliès d'argent – Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Country
2009	The Children	Tom Shankland	UK
2010	Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale	Jalmari Helander	Finland
2011	L'arrivo di Wang	Manetti Bros.	Italy
2012	Grabbers	Jon Wright	UK /  Ireland
2013	The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears (French: L'étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps)	Hélène Cattet / Bruno Forzani	Belgium /  France /  Luxembourg
2014	Index Zero	Lorenzo Sportiello	Italy
2015	Polder	Samuel Schwarz / Julian M. Grunthal	Switzerland /  Germany
2016	The Sum of Histories (Flemish: Terug Naar Morgen)	Lukas Bossuyt	Belgium

Méliès d'argent - Short films

Year	Title	Director	Country
2005	Terra Incognita	Peter Volkart	Switzerland
2006	Final Journey	Brendan Muldowney	Ireland
2007	Absence	Kevin Lecomte	France
2008	Kingz	Benni Diez / Marinko Spahic	Germany
2009	Virtual Dating	Katia Olivier	Belgium
2010	Daddy's Girl	Helen Komini Olsen	Norway
2011	Out of Erasers (Swedish: Sudd)	Erik Rosenlund	Sweden /  Denmark
2012	Employé du mois	Olivier Beguin	Switzerland
2013	Happy B-Day	Holger B. Frick	Germany
2014	The Nostalgist	Giacomo Cimini	UK
2015	The Kármán Line	Oscar Sharp	UK
2016	Getting Fat in a Healthy Way	Kevork Aslanyan	Bulgaria

See also

• Science fiction film
• Film festival

References

Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at it:Trieste Science+Fiction Festival; see its history for attribution.

External links

• Web site
• Organization