The short film El pütì pèrs by Paolo Baiguera (Italy, 2025) wins the 7th Edition of the Ermanno Olmi Award, an event aiming to promote short films by young directors. Second place goes to Voiceover by Leonardo Ferro (Italy, 2024), and third place to Two Ships by McKinley Benson (Portugal, United States, 2025).
The special mention for the most significant work concerning “Humility”, a theme that Ermanno Olmi explored in various aspects throughout his film production goes to Alien Minds by Florian Rudolph (Germany, Switzerland, 2025).
The first three classified films – among more than 100 entries from Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, UK, Hungary, Portugal, USA, Georgia, Chile and Poland, among others, and a substantial Italian representative – received a cash prize of €1.200, €600 and €400, respectively, while the special mention received a cash prize worth €300 offered by FIC – Federazione Italiana Cineforum.
The jury composed by Chiara Borroni (professor and film critic), Luca Capponi (director), Dario Catozzo (training and production, Lab 80 film), Adriana Ferrarese (director and producer), and Francesca Magliulo (director of the EOS Foundation) – who watched the short films with a group of girls and boys between 16 and 18 years old who created the “Controcampo” community, a platform supported by the EOS Foundation and Anica Academy ETS of which she have been the spokesperson during the award ceremony –, awarded El pütì pèrs: «A humble and intimate story that takes us back to a suspended, almost remote time. A time when man lived in close contact with nature and his creations were born from research around his own nest. An ancestral microcosm that does not demand explanations or aspire to reconciliation, but seeks to give meaning to what seems meaningless. A cultural heritage preserved in a language spoken by few and hidden in the hands of even fewer. A profound story that transforms into a stream of consciousness and materialises in an artefact, restoring the remote idea of the workshop and craftsmanship as a relationship with the mystery of the world around us». Voiceover wins second place: «With its delicacy and humanity, it shows us how cinema can become a form of freedom even within prison walls. Hamza is an example of a simple man who has made mistakes in life and wants nothing more than to be happy: a film that, through its original rhythm, allows us to listen to the reflections and understand the feelings of those marginalised by society, inviting us to reflect and move us». Two Ships takes home the third prize: «The film uses admirable narrative interweaving to portray two lives that coexist in parallel and separate ways, albeit under the same roof. Light and shadow vie for representation of their lives, evoked with great effectiveness in a manner that is both realistic and poetic».
The jury also awarded a special mention concerning “Humility” to Alien Minds: «The film invites us to shift our gaze to a world we thought was merely mechanism, reflection, soulless movement. With a staging that evokes painting and lighting that sculpts the smallest details, it suggests that humility also resides in a gesture: that of bending down, observing, listening, in order to recognise the value of a life whose sensitive existence we were unaware of and to rethink our place in the world, no longer at the top, but among all forms of life».
The event featured a screening of the four finalist films and a tribute to Ermanno Olmi with a screening of La circostanza (Italy, 1973).
