Annunziato Gentiluomo

1.0 Press release: Winners of the First Life Beyond Life Film Festival in Torino, Italy

The best in category awards have been selected in the first Life Beyond Life Film Festival in Torino, Italy. The festival, sponsored by Torino’s ArtInMovimento Popular University and Cultural Association SystemOut, focuses on films with themes of life after death.

The first Life Beyond Life Film Festival (www.lifebeyondlife.net), which ran two weeks in June, has chosen its best in category awards from fifty-one films, narrowed down from two hundred global submissions. One of the few international film festivals that focuses on eschatology, primarily the afterlife, it was sponsored by ArtInMovimento Popular University (www.unipopaim.it) and the Cultural Association SystemOut (www.systemout.org), both in Torino, Italy; affiliated with the Afterlife Research and Education Institute/U.S (A.R.E.I.), the Religion Today Film Festival, and two International Afterlife Conferences, “Andare Oltre. Uniti nella Luce” and “Oltre l’Oltre”; and made available through Vimeo on Demand.

Feature Films

The festival’s Feature Film jury had to overcome the formidable challenge of analyzing and comparing numerous disparate works, produced by various authors from many cultures, having diverse themes. The jury comprised Alberto Olivero (chairman), Riccardo Cristiani, Simone Semprini, Eduardo Ricciardelli, Luca Confortini, Edward Regensburg, and Matteo Valier.

Best Feature Film

Superno, by Abel Makesha, “whose title contains an omen. In words and action a very interesting and compelling opus, striking for the intensity of its narration and its conquest of the viewers by projecting them into the protagonist’s experiences, suspended between the afterlife and his own lucid and, at the same time, desperate madness. In addition, its geographical area of origin, Ethiopia, interprets perfectly the subject of the Festival!”

Best Director

Jacob Gillman and Matt Diebler, for The Invisible Mother, “due to their decision to direct a complex film that brings into play understandable situations on several levels. Their conscious directorial choice exhibits confidence, allowing ironic and oblique moments to coexist with a constant atmosphere of high tension.”

Best Actress

Gaia Messerklinger, in The Door on the Dark: “Even if not necessarily supported perfectly by cinematographic imagery, but more theatrical, she conveys the apparent inconsistencies of the Feminine encountering the Masculine, dramatized and enhanced by an impending portal to the Beyond.”

Best Actor

Esubalew Nasir, in Superno, “by virtue of the surprising evidence that he can keep the entire film suspenseful all by himself. In the absence of external action, or in any case action reduced to a minimum within narrow boundaries, he always communicates his emotional conflict by fully capturing the attention of the viewer!”

Best Editing

Equally to Spectrum and I’m Sinner: “Two completely different films in the genre, for which editing is essential—in the futuristic Spectrum, so as not to take away the truthfulness of the other created world, while in I’m Sinner, so as not to interrupt the progress of the facts that lead to tragedy and subsequent cathartic repentance. ”

Best Screenplay

Abel Mekasha, for Superno, “for masterfully knowing how to keep the narrative tension from collapsing, even in the presence of a preponderance of inner action.”

Best Cinematography

Daniel Lazoff, for The Invisible Mother, “on the grounds of creating the perfect synergy with the director. In fact, the sparing direction allowed the director of photography to present authentic pearls of images, immediately increasing the desire to review these interpretations with that wise and never predictable use of colors.”

Best Music

Katherine of Sinai, directed by Michael Redwood, “as a result of the soundtrack quality, perfectly supporting an important and expensive production, defining in detail the characters, actions, and contexts!”

Best Sound Design

Katherine of Sinai, directed by Michael Redwood, “with the impressive work on the music and effects score, envisaged by a historical period film with outdoor shots and mass movements like this.”

Special Prizes

Free (Liberi), by Fabrizio Maria Cortese: “although outside the specific idea of the festival, this film is really captivating and endearing, what with the number of actors, well known by the Italian audience, staging a melancholic, and at times self-deprecating, approach to life’s sunset.”

Kiersten Warren, as Coco in The Invisible Mother, because “she builds an antagonistic character, giving her depth, creativity, and magnetizing charm.”

Short Films

The Short Film jury was chaired by R. Craig Hogan and comprised Regina Amaro Zanella, Olha Vozna, Lucio Toma, Lorenzo Bramati, Alessandra Destefani, and Eleonora Tosco.

Best Short Film

Rock Out, by Alice Gadbled, “owing to her total adherence to the theme, interpreted with the greatest of ease, as well as the complexity of the story and its characters, and in harmony with great technical quality, combining narration and lyricism with surprising balance and facility!”

Special Prizes

Admissions, by Harry Kakatsakis, “through the expressed message of peace and the minimal stylistic cut in which the scene takes place, in order to give extreme prominence to the topic itself; and by virtue of the impressive acting verve.”

The Flying Fish, by Murat Sayginer, “thanks to the originality of the language; the relevance of the head, seen from a non-naturalistic and engaging perspective and aesthetically personal, immediate, and archetypal; and the skillful use of sound, giving the narration a hypnotic depth.”

On My Way, “owing to the refined use of the comedy glove, letting you graze the most painful highs and lows of life. A generous and ironic direction that, venturing into the maze of the philosophical and the irreversible, comes out with a clear and never derisive image of the grief it is reminiscing about!”

Best Director

Anne Azoulay, for Two or Three Things about Mary Jacobson, “as a result of orchestrating the cinematic story in a fluid and original way while keeping the narrative tension alive. Her first opus, brilliant and innovative, indeed!”

Best Actress

Anne Azoulay, in Two or Three Things about Mary Jacobson, “with her power of interpreting the female protagonist, and rendering a multifaceted and constantly evolving character!”

Best Actor

Equally to Hayden Considine, the boy protagonist of The House in the Clouds, “on account of the naturalness with which the young hero allows the viewers to fully immerse themselves in the pitfalls and seduction of a story between fantasy and reality”; and Alessandro Parrello, male protagonist of Nikola Tesla, The Man From The Future, “based on the credible interpretation of overcoming linguistic obstacles, and because of the ability to express the great intellectual and spiritual tension of the character, certainly the result of in-depth and passionate research!”

Best Cinematography

On My Way: “the technical engineering contributes significantly to supporting a film with a delicate story, characterized by compelling direction and acting expertise, creating an interesting mélange of sensitivity and irony, necessary in managing the roughness of the issue!”

Best Editing

The Poor People, “based on the design of the visual story in a limited space.”

Best Music

The Call, “based on the wisdom of supporting the dramaturgy, and the balance between functionality and musical aesthetics.”

Best Sound Design

Nikola Tesla, The Man from The Future, “due to the impact and effectiveness of the sound fabric, involving the audience in the mood and momentum, emotionally both intimate and powerful!”

Documentary Films

The Documentary Film jury, chaired by Johan Nepomuk Maier, comprised Marco Guglielmi, Mario Guerra, Gianfranco Speranza, Leonardo Zullo, Max Souza Jota de Queiroz, and Evelyn Meuren.

Best Documentary

Sending Off, by Ian Thomas Ash, “based on the incredible authenticity of the story, the cleanliness of the visual choices, and the dignified and not disgusting vision of Death!”

Special Prize

Medium, by Laura Cini, “representing a small and successful challenge, à la Italiana, in tackling a little-trodden and absolutely borderline theme typical of the countryside … and the director’s ability to describe it in a passionate way by consciously using the analytical tools of the documentary!”

Best Director

Sashko Potter Micevski, for We Are All Going To Die, “as a result of the sensitivity in following the protagonist’s footsteps, and the ability to emotionally involve the viewer on the threshold of a reality full of concreteness and poetry. To appreciate the product, likewise owing to the good pace and incisiveness of the narration, characterized by the Balkan pragmatism of managing Death!”

Best Editing

Sâdhaka, for The Path of Yoga, by Nicolas Gauthier, “on the strength of the successful interplay of environments, people, and feelings, involving the viewer by immersing him in an exotic world of history and culture by adding elements and reflections relating to new scientific findings!”

Best Cinematography

Francesco Pennica, for Choose Love, “due to the intrinsic quality of the direction of photography and its significant contribution to the solidity of the story.”

Best Soundtrack

By Carmelo Spoto, Vixia Maggini, and André Ruiz Luiz.

Best Sound Design

By Guglielmo Francavilla and Jacopo Schieda, co-founders of the Isophonic audio production studio.

Best Music

Giulio del Prato, Emiliano Toso, and Marquica, for Choose Love, “by virtue of their original music, generating atmospheres that amplify without ever overpowering the positivity of the messages expressed by the documentary, helping the audience to identify and relate!”

The Life Beyond Life Film Festival

Planning for the first Life Beyond Life Film Festival began at the end of March. The project is affiliated with the Afterlife Research and Education Institute/U.S. and the Religion Today Film Festival, and supported by the distribution company Quasi Cinema and the magazine Il Giornale dei Misteri. More than two hundred films were submitted from all over the world, and fifty-one were selected for final adjudication. Annunziato Gentiluomo, the festival’s Arts Director, described it as an exciting three-month “adventure trip” and “dream come true” for the team, consisting of Andrea Morghen, Matteo Valier, Lucio Toma, and Leonardo Zullo. Evelyn Meuren provided English translation. “Twenty-one attentive and passionate jurors! Many awards! A big tribute to life, and a great opportunity to reflect on death and, above all, on life after life!” said Gentiluomo.

The first Life Beyond Life Film Festival celebrated and was dedicated to Rosa Franca Castagno, “our very best friend, who left the Earth plane on March 12 this year,” according to Gentiluomo. “We are now planning Religion Today in Trento, Italy, and the second Life Beyond Life Film Festival, taking place in February and April 2022. Our team will grow, and we are convinced we will obtain the necessary funding to realize the celebration of our theme—the opportunity for courageous filmmakers to compare and discuss before an inspirational audience!”

Main media partner and press office will be the ArtInMovimento Magazine (artinmovimento.com) with its web radio (www.spreaker.com/user/artinmovimento), joined by the Italian magazine Il Giornale dei Misteri and the Brazilian TV station Alvorada Espírita.

2.0 Solange Godoy: Special Awards in the First Life Beyond Life Film Festival

Thanks to Brazilian TV Alvorada Espirita and medium André Luiz Ruiz, recipients of the first Life Beyond Life Film Festival awards will be presented with a painting by medium and painter Solange Godoy, wife of Ruiz. The June festival, sponsored by Torino, Italy’s ArtInMovimento Popular University and Cultural Association SystemOut, focused on afterlife themes.

A painting by Solange Godoy will be presented to Abel Makesha, whose film Superno won Best Feature Film; Alice Gadbled, whose film Rock Out won Best Short; and Thomas Ash, whose film Sending Off won Best Documentary.

Annunziato Gentiluomo, the festival’s Arts Director, described Godoy as “a sensitive artist of the floating world” and said the presentation of paintings are “a tribute of great symbolic value. The LBLFF wishes to pay homage to the awardees of the three film sections. Together with the official awards, Abel Makesha, Alice Gadbled, and Thomas Ash will attain, as well, a magnificent painted work of Solange, being progressively, in the course of her performance, ‘inspired’ by prominent artists of the past.”

Solange Godoy

A lawyer in Brazil by profession, in 1998 Solange Godoy approached mediumship through psychopictography, invited by the spirits of great artists to devote herself to that service. With great discipline and seriousness she involved herself in perceiving spiritual entities, who advised her, given her lack of knowledge of painting techniques, to study painting to develop her talent more quickly.

This true collaboration, combining the inspiration of the spiritual artists with the dedication of the medium’s study of painting techniques, enhanced the work and allowed it to progress rapidly. She can produce a painting in about fifteen to twenty minutes.

Solange has performed as a medium for over sixty prominent artists, including Picasso, Dalì, Pissarrò, Sisley, Berthé Morisot, Rembrandt, Rubens, Leonardo da Vinci, Manet, Turner, Lorenzo Lotto, Beato Angelico, Botticelli, and many others. She brings their inspiration through painting as a message of love and light to humankind, and validation of the survival of the soul.

Annunziato Gentiluomo, host of the International Afterlife Conference Andare Oltre. Uniti nella Luce, said, “A few years ago I was looking for some mediumistic painters to invite to participate in our Congress. Thanks to some contacts and through research I met both Florencio Anton and Solange Godoy, two excellent mediums who channel the greatest painters of all time. Florencio goes into an unconscious deep trance, while Solange experiences an inspired trance. In fact, while Florencio is “invaded” by the entity, Solange gets into contact with it, seeing the image reproduced, and then she will be guided to create the work. The first is therefore totally unconscious, the second is alert. Solange, in order to best render her service to the world of the spirit, has in fact studied and deepened her technique and the different pictorial styles. I would like to focus on her, Solange, together with her husband André Ruiz Luiz (psychic, author of several texts, and spiritual healer) on Alvorada Espirita TV in Brazil.”

Here some of Solange Godoy’s works:

Watch these exciting videos!

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3. Registration for the Second Festival

Registration is already open for the second festival through the Filmfreeway platform at the following URL: https://filmfreeway.com/LifeBeyondLifeFilmFestival.

The festival team intends to have future editions of the Life Beyond Life Film Festival, under the auspices of ArtInMovimento Popular University (www.unipopaim.it) and the Cultural Association SystemOut (www.systemout.org), Afterlife Research and Education Institute/U.S., and Religion Today Film Festival. “I foresee a strong team at my side: Andrea Morghen, Matteo Valier, Lucio Toma, Evelyn Meuren, e Stefano Semeria, ” said Gentiluomo.