The festival is strengthening its network of collaborations with local institutions, sending a clear signal in support of exchange within the South Tyrolean film scene. An expression of this strategy is the introduction of the new ZeLIG Prize, which is awarded by ZeLIG – the documentary film school in Bolzano.
“Film production in South Tyrol is made up of many individual building blocks, and the closer these come together, the more meaningful it becomes. This also applies to the collaboration between BFFB and ZeLIG, which becomes more visible and tangible through the ZeLIG Prize. For the students, the festival experience opens up new perspectives, and for South Tyrol’s film industry, it provides an open outlook toward the future,” explains Renate Mumelter, President of the ZeLIG Cooperative.
The ZeLIG Prize, endowed with €1,000, is awarded to one of ten films nominated by the festival’s artistic directors from the sections Competition, RealeNonReale, BFFB Special, Focus, and Minority Languages DOC.
It transcends all categories and is given to a work that displays elements, practices, and directorial techniques associated with documentary forms of production. In this context, Vincenzo Bugno, Artistic Director of the BFFB, adds:“With this prize, we are also continuing to question the classic definitions of documentary and fiction. We want to highlight diverse artistic paths that influence each other, diverge, and then reconnect — paths that allow us to look behind the surface of things. All of this is cinema.”
Accordingly, works that at first glance may appear entirely fictional are also considered, as well as those distinguished by formal and structural choices that draw more strongly on the perception and construction of the documentary. It is a cross-sectional award, both in terms of the festival’s sections and the profiles of the works considered.
The jury is composed of ZeLIG students and is accompanied by a renowned figure from the film industry.
