"Santos Palace" from Belgium wins the “Cinemamondo – Castello nel Mondo” award
jointly instituted by MEDIA Salles and the Castellinaria Film Festival


The short “Santos Palace”, by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Belgium 2006) wins the "Cinemamondo – Castello nel Mondo" award, designed to single out works that deal with the issue of an increasingly multiethnic and multicultural world.

It was presented – on 24 November during the closing night of the twentieth Castellinaria Festival in Bellinzona (CH) – by a jury consisting of three young people of different nationalities, representing the international nature of Canton Ticino’s student population.
Their view of the shorts presented in the section “Lo sguardo dell’Europa: i Migranti” (“In the eyes of Europe: Migrants”), also gave us two special mentions, “Ditta Allah” by Ditta Allah Choudry (CH 2007) and “Vos papiers!” by Claire Fouquet (F, B 2006).

By including this new award in the 2007 prizes, Castellinaria joins the “Cinemamondo” initiative recently launched by MEDIA Salles, the organism that has been working in the sector of theatrical exhibition since 1991, with the support of the European Union’s MEDIA Programme and the Italian Government.

“Cinemamondo”, which also enjoys the patronage of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, combines an analysis of audiovisual viewing habits in immigrant communities – an as yet unexplored field – with educational initiatives for upper-secondary school students centering around films as a terrain on which different cultures, increasingly present in the schools themselves, can meet and get to know one another.

«The “Cinemamondo” jury,» stated Giancarlo Zappoli, artistic director of Castellinaria, “expressed a judgement that seems to me to be emblematic of the initiative. One special mention went to a short that proposes the experience of someone who came to Switzerland from Pakistan to pursue their dream of being a filmmaker. Another special mention went to a genre that never fails to be effective – that of animated films. The first prize awarded to “Santos Palace” emphasizes the relationship between form and content, essential for effective communication.”

MEDIA Salles President, Jens Rykær, recalling that the “Cinemamondo” project has already run a series of workshops in Milan’s upper secondary schools, in collaboration with the CFP (Professional Training Centre) Vigorelli, sees «the start of the initiative’s extension on an international level, with the common objective of highlighting the cinema’s role as a means for different cultures and sensitivities to get to know one another and share their experiences.»

MEDIA Salles, a project operating within the framework of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, with the support of the Italian Government, fosters theatrical exhibition of European audiovisual products, both by high profile campaigns involving Europe's cinema exhibitors and by initiatives to raise the visibility of European productions with industry players and potential audiences, creating specialized information channels on a global scale. Thus the current initiatives from MEDIA Salles dovetail in a program with a triple focus – training, promotion and information – and maximum combined effect.



The "Vigorelli" Professional Training Centre (CFP), of the Milan Province’s Agency for Training, Orientation and Employment, designs and runs permanent, ongoing courses of further education to promote employment and professional upgrading. The centre also carries out orientation projects concerning training and employment, as well as research on defining newly emerging professional competencies in the world of work and anticipating training needs by tailoring didactic planning.