The Gianandrea Mutti Prize

grant competition 2023 for migrant filmmakers


“Why support cinema by migrant filmmakers? Think of the “stereophonic” reading skills shown by their filmmaking. With their double vision (coming from one culture and moving towards another) they are able to see and filter reality in a completely new way. Think how they can help Italian cinema get over its current crisis”.

Gian Luca Farinelli, Director of Cineteca di Bologna

13th edition
Deadline: 10 July 2023.

The prize is addressed to foreign and Italian authors from Asia, Africa, eastern Europe, the Balcans, the Middle East, Central and South Americans who have lived in Italy for at least 12 months. The prize is the only Italian venture of this kind for migrant and/or foreign filmmakers resident in Italy, created to support art and inclusion in the field of cinema. The prize will select a film project presented by a migrant or foreign origin author and awards 18.000 euros to support production of the film, which must be completed no later than 31.12.2024.

For foreign filmmakers or Italian filmmakers of migrant origin living in Italy it is almost impossible to find funding for their work. Cultural policies encouraging film production (on the lines of the Arts Council in the UK) and direct investments by television channels (such as Channel 4, Artè and ZDF) are lacking, and with few exceptions there is virtually no support for cinema from the global South.

The Mutti Prize for foreign and Italian filmmakers of migrant origin was created in 2008 by Officina Cinema Sud-Est in collaboration with the Bologna Cineteca with the double aim of promoting new forms of self-representation through films and documentaries and of stimulating the development of more inclusive cultural policies. The Mutti prize is promoted by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Associazione Amici di Giana, Archivio delle memorie migranti, e Fondazione Pianoterra ONLUS

In 2009 the Prize received support from the Amici di Giana, an association created after the premature death of Gianandrea Mutti to honour his passionate interest in filmmaking. Since 2012 it has benefitted from collaboration with the Archive of Migrant Memories and is now called the Mutti-Amm Prize. In 2017 the Pianoterra Foundation joined the other partners. 

* GIANANDREA MUTTI PRIZE 2023 ANNOUNCEMENT – DOWNLOAD * (Italian)

Prizewinning films in previous editions:

    • 2023 – 15ª ed: CHILDREN UNDER THE SUN di Jalal AlBess (Italy, documentary) e MANIFESTA INFONDATEZZA di Mario Estrada (Italy, fiction)
    • 2022 – 14ª ed: XING LONG di Xin Alessandro Zheng (Italy, fiction)
    • 2021 – 13ª ed: QUERCIA, BANIANO E IO di Valeria Weerasinghe (Italia, animation) e NOSTOI: DIARIO DI UN RITORNO di Carole Oulato e Anne-Marie Ange Sibi (Italy, fiction) (prize for creativity)
    • 2020  (12th ed.): Nel blu by Mounir Derbal (Italy, 2021, fiction) and Through my lens by Ariam Tekle (Italy – Eritrea, 2021, documentary) (prize for creativity).

    • 2019 (11th ed.): Sono a casa by Maaria Sayed and I figli di Caino by Keti Stamo.
    • 2018 (10th ed.): La voliera by Bagya D. Lankapura (Italy, 2019, fiction).
    • 2017 (9th ed.): L’interprete by Hleb Papou (Italy, 2017, fiction).
    • 2016 (8th ed.): Casa sulla nuvola by Soheila Javaheri (Italy, 2017, docu-fiction).
    • 2015 (7th ed.): ex aequo Per un figlio by Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala (Italy, 2016, fiction) and Le ali velate by Nadia Kibout (Italy, 2016, fiction).
    • 2014 (6th ed.): Cittadini del nulla by Razi Mohebi (Italy, 2015, fiction) and I soldi di mia madre (Katada Ayiti) by Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala (Italy-Sri Lanka, 2015, fiction) (prize for creativity)
    • 2013 (5th ed.): Devil comes to Koko by Alfie Nze (Italy-Nigeria, 2015, docu-fiction) and Arcipelaghi di Martin Errichiello (Italy, 2012, documentary) (prize for creativity).
    • 2011-2012 (4th ed.): Va’ pensiero by Dagmawi Yimer (Italy, 2013, documentary).
    • 2010 (3rd ed.): Il debito del mare by Adil Tanani (Italy, 2012, fiction).
    • 2009 (2nd ed.): 18 jus solis by Fred Kudjo Kuwornu (Italy, 2011, documentary).
    • 2008 (1st ed.): ex-aequo Ti ricordi di Adil? by Mohamed Zineddaine (Marocco-Italy, 2008, fiction) and Life in the city by Abdoulaye Gaye (Italy, 2009, docu-fiction).

Info:

Cineteca di Bologna: enrica.serrani@cineteca.bologna.it

Associazione Amici di Giana: info@amicidigiana.org

Fondazione Pianoterra Onlus: amedeosiragusa@pianoterra.net

Archivio delle Memorie Migranti: amm.segreteria@gmail.com

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