BERGAMO - The third edition of the Ermanno Olmi Prize for Best Short Film, promoting young filmmakers, has opened for entries, offering a prize of up to 1,200 euros for the winning entry.

  The award began in 2019 in honour of the Italian director Ermanno Olmi who died in May 2018. Olmi was best known for his films ‘The Tree of Wooden Clogs’, which won the Palme d’Or at the 1978 Cannes film festival and ‘The Legend of the Holy Drinker’ which won the Gold Lion at the 1988 Venice Film Festival.

  The prize is aimed at Italian and international filmmakers under the age of 30. Entries must have been produced in 2020 or 2021 and be less than 15 minutes long. There are three cash prizes for the top three films, as decided by the jury, of 1,200, 500 and 300 euros, made possible by the Bergamo Film Meeting Onlus. There will also be a special mention for the best film dedicated to environmental issues, “very relevant today and constantly present in Ermanno Olmi's body of work.”

  The award ceremony will be held in the Auditorium of the Piazza della Libertà, Covid restrictions allowing.

  “The third edition of the Ermanno Olmi Prize testifies to the pivotal role of culture in the recovery process, paramount to address pressing issues such as the centrality of young people,” said Nadia Ghisalberti, Councillor for Culture of Bergamo. “The prize represents an opportunity to offer them a stage to showcase their creativity after a terrible lockdown that has inevitably crushed all the opportunities for visibility.” 

  The prize is promoted by the Municipality of Bergamo with the support of the Federazione Italiana Cineforum and in collaboration with Bergamo Film Meeting Onlus.

  The deadline for submissions in October 16.

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