CortoNatura is the section dedicated to short films and its aim is to open the Festival to a younger target and to encourage the environmental audiovisual production. The section is dedicated to international short Nature-based films and is open to all film genres (fiction, animation or documentaries). The short films are selected by the Festival Selection Committee and they compete for the best CortoNatura Prize awarded by the jury of the audience, worth 1000 EUR.
The short films selected for the 20° edition are:
QUERCUS
Benjamin Burghartz
Belgium | 2014 | 10’05”
From the top of his hill, Quercus, the old oak tree, will convince his peers to attract a ranger under his branches. He wants to communicate with the man, he wants to send him a message, or rather a solicitation. He will sacrifice his bark to reach the ranger's awareness. In its infinite wisdom, the tree knows that man and nature do not have much time to choose between prosperity and extinction. He must act on the men world and colonize the awareness before the point of no return is reached.
IL POTERE DELL’ORO ROSSO
Davide Minnella
Italy | 2015 | 19’18
Under the sun of Apulia, the encounter between a surly Apulian farmer and a young African laborer, both in the throes of the Red Gold cultivation.
DER KLEINE VOGEL UND DIE RAUPE
Lena von Döhren
Switzerland | 2017 | 4’20”
It is summertime. High above in a maple tree the little Bird cherishes and nurtures the green leaves of his home. Suddenly a hungry caterpillar sets out to eat the appetizing leaves. The little Bird manages to lure away the glutton and an adventurous journey begins. In the forest, the fire-red fox is already awaiting the two. A lake with its perils must also be crossed. Eventually the caterpillar pupates. The little bird starts alone on the long way home. When the fox continues his chase the caterpillar appears to have been miraculously transformed to help the little Bird.
KALIA – THE LOST GIBBON
Nitye Sood, Nikhil Virdi
India | 2016 | 12’
Kalia - The Lost Gibbon is a short film that takes a brief look at the life of a particularly charismatic Western Hoolock Gibbon in the forests of Northeast India. The Hoolock Gibbon is India's only primate and today, their populations stand threatened by poaching as well as habitat loss due to human encroachment. The film uses Kalia as a lens to explore the broader status of the species and its rapidly declining territory in Northeast India.
NO-GO ZONE
L’Atelier Collectif
Belgium | 2016 | 10’
'No-go zone' chronicles the daily life of the last man remained in the red zone after the evacuation of the Fukushima area and the nuclear power plant accident.
NATURE RX
Justin Bogardus
USA | 2015 | 1’30”
One lost man, longing for the apocalypse and crippled by modern life, finds an answer... a humorous and obvious solution he was missing all along. Having fun again, feeling sexy with his wife, wild peaceful and free, this man offers a good time prescription for our busy world.
MESSAGE OF THE ANIMALS
Elke H. Markopoulos
Germany | 2016 | 8’57”
By strong, epic and unique animated pictures the message of the animals is submitted in poetical and associative impressions and symbols. Mankind who tries to catch and own our world remains with empty hands. At the end, when all animals have gone, when darkness reigned, there’s only hope left. The viewer may find his own way to read this story, nearly as old as mankind.
DE LONGUES VACANCES
Caroline Nugues Bourchat
Belgium | 2016 | 15’54”
This summer, Louise discovers for the first time the joys of the camping by the sea with her parents. With her father, she collects precious treasures having belonged, according to his father, to a siren. He tells her the story of a siren who cannot sing and does not find her place in the society. The holidays last more than usual and Louise discovers the history of the siren might be the one of her father.