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| Olga Torrico |
VENICE - Olga Torrico's Gas Station wins the SIC @ SIC Award for the best technical contribution at the Venice Film Festival. As part of the 35th International Critics' Week. Gas Station by the young and debutant director and performer from Caserta Olga Torrico won the SIC @ SIC Award for Best Technical Contribution "For the accurate research and intelligent use of repertoire material." This is the motivation written by the jury composed by Nicola Giuliano, Donatella Palermo and Giovanni Pompili for the Short Italian Cinema section, as part of the 35th International Critics' Week in Venice, which awarded the award at the award ceremony held in the late afternoon of Friday 11 September at the Hollywood Celebrities Lounge - Lido di Venezia Tennis Club.
Radiant and moved the author and protagonist of the short, who said: "I dedicate this award to the people who worked on my short and who were by my side, because this little journey together was a discovery; I dedicate it to the director of the photography, the editor, the sound designer and the producers and distributors who have made this idea grow. The prize is certainly theirs. I am thrilled that the work done on the archive material has been appreciated, and that the language of the short film has arrived to the jury ".
Satisfied also the producer of the film, Adam Selo (Sayonara Film) who with his company, founded with Olga, supported and believed in the uniqueness of certain works and authors, with whom he established a continuous collaboration, as in the case of Adriano Valerio , also present this year in Venice with his new work "Les aigles de Carthage".
"We had the privilege of attending the various screenings of the works scheduled for Critics' Week - commented Selo - and we were pleasantly impressed by the very high level of the works chosen, so we feel honored not only to have been selected for the competition but to have obtained this recognition, which we consider another significant step for the growth of our young company and which we hope will be a further input to the enhancement of the short film in Italy and the creative recovery of the audiovisual archive memory. Special thanks go to SIC delegate Giona Nazzaro and all the members of the organization who have proven to be a great family making this Venetian experience unique and unforgettable ".
The short will soon be screened in some Italian and international reviews and festivals, and will soon also be available on Rai Cinema Channel.
Synopsis. Alice works at a gas station. She no longer plays and has sunk inside herself the fire that burned inside her for the music. When her old music teacher shows up on a hot summer day, Alice begins to wonder if she's been without her "gasoline" for too long.
Director's notes. Submerged beneath the hardened layers of the years, sad and happy memories suddenly re-emerge, like a treasure plucked from the bottom of a dark ocean.
Inside there is a void, in which a fire has remained sealed that has become weaker and weaker, left without the oxygen necessary to burn.
With “Gas Station” I wanted to tell the sense of lack that dries up those who have put aside themselves and their essence for fear of expressing themselves.
Alice is looking for a place in the world that is truly hers - images that now belong to another life remind her of what she has lost. (Olga Torrico)
Olga Torrico studied between Rome, Paris, Bologna and Valencia, first graduating in languages and literature, then specializing in Cinema, Television and Multimedia Production. Since 2014 he has been part of the short film distribution team Elenfant Distribution. In 2016, together with Adam Selo he founded the production company Sayonara Film, with which he produces short films and creative documentaries. In 2017 he attended the Bottega Finzioni screenwriting school. Winner of the Extended Cinecampus call, she writes, directs and performs her first short film, Gas station, shot in 35 mm as part of the Terre di Cinema initiative and completed through a creative recovery of clips from audiovisual archives and family films. The film is produced by Sayonara Film and Factory Film, in collaboration with the Experimental Center of Cinematography.
THE PRODUCTION: SAYONARA FILM SRL
Film production and distribution company founded by Adam Selo and Olga Torrico in April 2016 in Bologna, it aims to produce modern, complex and meaningful works, and a particular focus on the creation documentary. The company was born from the fertile and constantly fermenting soil of the Elenfant cultural association, in its dual essence of Elenfant Film and Elenfant Distribution. After nearly ten years of growth and experimentation in independent film production and distribution, Sayonara Film's business profile is mature but fresh - a hotbed of projects, for the production and distribution of quality works.
In 2017, Sayonara co-produced "13.11", an anthological series of six short films shot in six European countries, launched worldwide by Repubblica TV, Le Soir and El Pais. Two episodes of the series are acquired by France Television and broadcast in France. Among Sayonara's latest works we find the documentary "Les Aigles de Carthage" by Adriano Valerio, co-produced with France and Tunisia, the short film "Destino" by Bonifacio Angius, which premieres in Venice at the International Critics' Week in 2019, and the short film "The first day of Matilde" by Rosario Capozzolo, already selected and awarded in numerous international festivals.
As a distributor, Sayonara promotes a line-up of around 20 short films, selected with great passion and enthusiasm, and follows their path through festivals, theatrical distribution and international television sales. Sayonara was the distributor of the winning shorts of the David di Donatello in 2016, with "Bellissima" by Alessandro Capitani, and in 2017 with "A casa mia" by Mario Piredda.