MMF 2022

NEWS: SPECIAL PROGRAM_BRAND NEW YOU'RE RETRO

MMF MMXXII is proud to present a special program titled BRAND NEW YOU’RE RETRO, featuring four groundbreaking machinima by Dutch filmmaker and artist Jordy Veenstra

The program will be exclusively presented exclusively on the silver screen of the MIC, Museum of Interactive Cinema in Milan, Italy on March 26 2022.

Read more

Watch a trailer below:


NEWS_ BACK-TO-BACK: IDENTITIES/INTIMACIES

What is the difference between nudity and nakedness in a video game? Can one's self be infinitely programmable in a simulation? And who are you, where you are not yourself?

The last back-to-back program features two outstanding words from Jamie Janković and Federica di Pietrantonio.

Watch IDENTITIES/INTIMACIES

NEWS: WAR GAME MAP AND SINO-FRENCH WAR AT MMF MMXXII

We’re delighted to announce the online screening of Juan Poyuan’s War Game Map and Sino-French War in the back-to-back program HISTORIES/HERSTORIES

War Game Map and Sino-French War is an experimental machinima focusing on the war between the Qing Dynasty and the French in northern Taiwan in 1894. It uses the Chinese and French options from Age of Empires and a plug-in to a topographical map of Northern Taiwan based on ancient maps and literature. A digital reproduction of artist plays the role of a shoutcaster — an eSports commentator — describing the battle run by the game AI.

Juan Poyuan is a young Taipei-based artist who creates works about video games games and online communities focusing on political and cultural issues. He recently graduated in Fine Arts at the National Taipei University and is an active member of the The Tamsui River Project collective.

Watch a trailer below

NEWS: ARNE VOGELGESANG'S THIS IS NOT A GAME

The publication of the edited anthology Game over. Critica delle ragione videoludica (trans. Game Over. Critique of Ludic Reason, Mimesis Edizioni, 2020) has triggered a heated debate in Italy about the complex relationship between video games and politics, entertainment and activism. Among the most discussed essays included in the book is Jonathan Glover’s This is not a game, in which the American scholar and writer examines the game-like nature of conspiracy theories and, in particular, QAnon.

Here’s a relevant passage:

In this sense, conspiracy theories are already games, and ARGs are already conspiratorial. The game-like structure and appeal of conspiracy theorizing across an array of media has been readily weaponized by trolls, grifters, true believers, and provocateurs alike.

Engaging in conspiracy culture is like playing a secret game based on insider knowledge, and it is this feeling — of joining an anointed community that has transcended the ordinary world — that propels Q’s current popularity.

Perhaps when the medium is ARG, conspiracy thinking is the message. But revealing the game structures, pop media tropes, and affective rewards that shape movements like QAnon can help inoculate those attracted to such forms of play from full immersion in conspiracy culture.

Likewise, in his outstanding 2020-2021 video essay/performance also titled This Is Not a Game, artist and director Arne Vogelgesang discusses the narratives that shape our reality and examines the growth of QAnon and its affinities to ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) and larping (Live Action Role Playing) in the context of the evolution of US politics. This enlightening (and unsettling) tour-de-force will haunt you forever.

What happens when game-like narratives enter reality? It’s game over.

Watch This Is Not A Game

NEWS: KELLY RABBACHIN ON THE RABBIT HOLE

“My goal was to remake Lewis Carroll’s tale Alice in Wonderland introducing a dramatic mood largely absent in the original text and by borrowing Gus van Sant’s cinematic gaze in Last Days, a movie which reconstructs the last days of Kurt Cobain. As such, The Rabbit Hole is a hybrid text, situated at the intersection of cinema, literature, popular culture, and video games. The project was originally developed after embarking in a research on machinima, hereby defined as a new medium for audiovisual production within digital environments. Using popular video games such as The Sims 4 and Grand Theft Auto V, I created two distinct sequences, highlighting the two worlds where the narrative takes place and the character’s evolution (or devolution), both aesthetically and emotionally. Scene after scene, the promise of a new world of adventure is negated: the violent fall of the character inThe Rabbit Hole is contrasted to Alice’s much more joyful journey down the rabbit hole, which is described as “without gravity” in the original text. One plummets, the other floats. And while in Carroll’s story, those who live in Wonderland welcome Alice and join her as she explores the new world, the protagonist of my machinima is left to his own devices. All the characters he meets in this new reality are either aloof or aggressive. My goal with The Rabbit Hole was to appropriate and transform a well known story, remediating its narrative elements and iconography, presenting a different take that contrasts with both the original story and with the tools used: I chose a cinematic style relying on a fixed camera and panoramic shots. I also focused on marginal and peripheral elements within the game environments, favoring a slow pace over the intense, frantic pace of most video games”.

(Kelly Rabbachin)

Watch The Rabbit Hole

“Rimediando in chiave drammatica il racconto di Lewis Carroll Alice nel paese delle meraviglie ed utilizzando lo sguardo cinematografico di Gus van Sant in Last Days, che segue il personaggio di Kurt Cobain nei suoi ultimi giorni di vita, The Rabbit Hole è un esempio di ibridazione tra linguaggio cinematografico, letteratura, cultura di massa e videogioco. Il progetto nasce dopo una scrupolosa ricerca di tesi di laurea sul machinima, inteso come nuovo medium di produzione audiovisiva nell’ambiente fluido del Web 2.0. Utilizzando i videogiochi The Sims 4 e Grand Theft Auto V, è stato possibile creare due sequenze ben distinte che mettono in evidenza i due mondi dove si svolge la narrazione e il cambiamento del personaggio, sia estetico che introspettivo. Scena dopo scena, la promessa di un mondo delle meraviglie è infranta: la caduta violenta del personaggio in The Rabbit Hole è in contrapposizione con la discesa fluttuante di Alice nel buco del coniglio, che nell’opera originale è descritta come “senza gravità”. Se nel racconto originale i personaggi del mondo delle meraviglie sono pronti ad accogliere Alice ed accompagnarla nel suo viaggio, nel machinima il personaggio andrà alla ricerca di interazioni con i personaggi che incontra, senza successo: questi scapperanno o adotteranno un approccio violento. L’intento di The Rabbit Hole è di trasformare una storia celebre, di rimediarla e di interpretarla in un modo alternativo, in contrapposizione sia con il racconto originale, ottenendo una storia derivata ma diversa, sia con gli strumenti utilizzati: adottando uno stile cinematografico che predilige la camera fissa e riprese panoramiche, nonchè focus su ambienti di gioco marginali e periferici, il machinima opera in controtendenza rispetto ai ritmi frenetici che il testo videoludico impone al videogiocatore nella sua fruizione canonica”.

(Kelly Rabbachin)

Guarda The Rabbit Hole

NEWS: BACK-TO-BACK BAD TALES

We’ve unlocked another back-to-back feature: BAD TALES, featuring Cris Obermann and Kelly Rabbachin

Another wild juxtaposition: Cris Ubermann, a prolific French experimental filmmaker fascinated by philosophy and psychology, uses Grand Theft Auto V to adapt a fable by Jean De La Fontaine, “The wolf and the dog”. Meanwhile, Kelly Rabbachin — a first-time machinimaker and recent graduate from Milan, Italy — appropriated the same game along with The Sims 4 to remake Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. These wild experiments in filmmaking should come as no surprise: after all, video games are the folk tales of the digital generation. What’s the moral of this story? As William Gibson famously said, “The street finds its uses for things”.

Watch BAD TALES

NEWS: PHIL RICE ON OBIT

“With this short film, I set out to wrestle with an aspect of religion that has always troubled me. It is based on a true story, a real eulogy I heard delivered for someone I loved dearly. The incident, which happened nearly 30 years ago, filled me with anger and was a formative experience in my relationship to religion for the coming decades. It was valuable to revisit that event by way of this film, an event that still haunts me, but today through the lens of experience stirs emotions other than anger. Production of this film was challenging for the reasons most machinima work is challenging — in that the platform (game) was not designed to do what is shown here, and in fact seemed to work against me at every turn. When, after that kind of struggle, a finished product like this manages to emerge, there are few things more fulfilling.”

(Phil Rice)

Watch Obit now

“Con questo cortometraggio, volevo confontarmi con un aspetto della religione che mi ha sempre turbato. È basato su una storia vera, un autentico elogio funebre che ho sentito pronunciare per una persona a me molto cara. L’incidente, avvenuto circa trent’anni fa, mi ha riempito di rabbia ed è stata un’esperienza formativa nel mio rapporto con la religione per i decenni successivi. È stato prezioso rivisitare quell’evento attraverso questo film: si tratta di un evento che tuttora mi tormenta, ma che oggi, attraverso la lente dell’esperienza, suscita emozioni diverse dalla rabbia. La produzione di questo film è stata impegnativa per le ragioni per cui la maggior parte dei progetti machinima sono impegnativi — nel senso che la piattaforma (gioco) non è stata progettata per fare quello che voglio mostrare, e in effetti sembra remare contro a ogni step del processo. Ma al termine di una lunga lotta, quando ci si trova di fronte a un prodotto che soddisfa anche i giudici più critici, è difficile sperimentare qualcosa di più appagante.”

(Phil Rice)

NEWS: WELCOME TO MMF MMXXII

The fifth edition of the Milan Machinima Festival begins today with an online extravaganza.

The MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL MMXXII returns with a hybrid format —both online and in situ screenings — after a long disruption in the face of an unprecedented global crisis. The festival program is now online: 25 works of machinima and game video created by 21 artists representing 9 countries are featured in two distinct sections — EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE (March 26 2022, IRL) and FOR EVERYTHING TO STAY THE SAME (March 21-27 2022, online) — for a total of 11 programs.

Below is a breakdown of all the features:

EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE (Museum of Interactive Cinema, Milan, March 26 2022): MACHINEMA (MACHINE CINEMA), BRAND NEW YOU ARE RETRO, and MADE IN ITALY

FOR EVERYTHING TO STAY THE SAME (March 21-27 2022, online): THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE AI, BAD TALES, SONG TO SONG, GAME VIDEO ESSAY, IDENTITIES/INTIMACIES, HISTORIES/HERSTORIES, NO DRAMA, PLEASE, and GAME OVER PRESENTS: THIS IS NOT A GAME.

This year we’ll be unlocking the various features gradually, like levels of a video game. The online section comprises seven back-to-back features.

The first — THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE AI — features works by Phil Rice (US) and Beatrice Carpina (IT) and is now online .

Enjoy!

La quinta edizione del Milan Machinima Festival comincia oggi con una serie di proposte online.

Il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL torna con un formato ibrido — proiezioni online e in situ — dopo una lunga interruzione causata da una crisi globale senza precedenti. Il programma è ora online e include 25 opere machinima e game video create da 21 artisti che rappresentano 9 nazioni. Le proposte sono presentate in due sezioni distinte — EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE (26 marzo 2022, IRL) e FOR EVERYTHING TO STAY THE SAME (21-27 marzo 2022, online) — per un totale di 11 programmi.

Di seguito la selezione completa:

EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE (Cineteca MIC, Museum del Cinema Interattivo, Milano, 26 marzo 2022): MACHINEMA (MACHINE CINEMA), BRAND NEW YOU ARE RETRO e MADE IN ITALY

FOR EVERYTHING TO STAY THE SAME (21-27 marzo 2022, online): THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE AI, BAD TALES, SONG TO SONG, GAME VIDEO ESSAY, IDENTITIES/INTIMACIES, HISTORIES/HERSTORIES, NO DRAMA, PLEASE,e GAME OVER PRESENTS: THIS IS NOT A GAME.

Quest’anno “sbloccheremo” le varie proposte in modo graduale, come se fossero livelli di un videogioco. La sezione online include sette programmi back-to-back.

La prima— THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE AI — presenta opere di Phil Rice (US) e Beatrice Carpina (IT) ed è ora accessibile online.

Buona visione.


NEWS: A WOMAN ON THE INTERNET AT MMF MMXXII

We are delighted to announce that A Woman on the Internet (or, The Eternal Scream) will be featured at MMF MMXXII

Jamie Janković’s new ambitious video work is making its debut at MMF.

A Woman on the Internet (or, The Eternal Scream) is a filmic response to Lynn Hershman Leeson’s text, Romancing the Anti-body (1995), exploring the jarring juxtapositions of friction, toxicity, joy and liberation that trans people, queers and femmes experience when playing as their own custom character creations in video game spaces.

Jamie Janković is a London-based filmmaker and video artist whose practice focuses on the dynamics of gender within video game worlds: in previous works, Janković has investigated the ways in which men are socially conditioned to their cultural model by visual media and explored through found footage technique how mainstream U.S. horror and sci-fi genres police masculinity through narrative and representation.

We featured Jamie’s work in 2021 as part of VRAL.

Watch an excerpt below:

NEWS: KHTOBTOGONE AT MMF MMXXII

We are excited to announce that Khtobtogone will be screened on March 26 2022 at the Interactive Museum of Cinema in Milan as part of MMF MMXXII.

Sara Sadik’s video art explores the “social mythologies” of French youth. Khtobtogone is no exception. Created with/in Grand Theft Auto V, her groundbreaking machinima begins as a love story between protagonist Zine and the girl of his dreams, Bulma. But in introspective narration, Zine reflects more broadly on masculinity and coming of age in Marseille’s Maghrebi community. Inspired by the experiences of her male friends from Southern France, Sadik collaged transcripts of their stories into Zine’s internal monologue.

Sara Sadik (b. 1994) is a French artist based in Marseille. Khtobtogone was commissioned by the Centre national des arts plastiques in partnership with Triangle-Astérides as part of the exhibition En attendant Omar Gatlato curated by Natasha Marie Llorens.

Get your ticket while they last → http://bitly.com/MMFMMXXII

Watch the teaser below

NEWS: MMF MMXXII DISPATCH #5

Hello everyone,

My name is Matteo Bittanti and I am the artistic director of the Milan Machinima Festival, which showcases game-based video art at the end of the end of history. 

On behalf of the entire curatorial staff, I am happy to reveal additional details about the fifth edition, which takes place between March 21st and 27th 2022.

The Milan Machinima Festival - a non-profit project that was born at IULM University in Milan - is made possible by the contribution of several people. In this dispatch, I’d like to share some details about our curatorial staff. Specifically, I would like to introduce three key curators: Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda, and Riccardo Retez.

Gemma Fantacci is a Doctoral candidate in Visual and Media Studies at IULM University. Her research focuses on the relationship between counter-gaming practices and the avant-garde. She holds an MA in Arts, Markets and Cultural Heritage from IULM, and an MA in Game Design from the same institution. She is interested in machinima, in-game photography and the visual arts. Gemma is the Communication Manager of the Milan Machinima Festival and co-curator of VRAL. 

Among her most recent publications is VRAL SEASON ONE published by Concrete Press, which she co-edited with Matteo Bittanti. Introduced in April 2020 amidst a global pandemic, VRAL is a uniquely curated game video experience, offering screenings of machinima created by artists and filmmakers whose work lies at the intersection of video art, cinema, animation, and gaming. The book collects all Season One’s interviews (i.e., exhibitions 01 to 21), including extra content previously released online. The second volume in the series will be released in the upcoming months 

Luca Miranda is an artist and independent researcher. His scholarly practice focuses on the relationship between reality and simulation. He is especially interested in the notion of the avatar as an aesthetic entity. Luca is interested in the logic of game mechanics and notions such as immersion, identification, and interpassivity. He received a Master of Arts in TV, Cinema and New Media at IULM University, Milan, and previously a B.A. in Media and Art from the University of Bologna. In 2018, he co-founded Eremo, an artistic collective based in Milan operating at the intersection of video game, sound art, performance and contemporary art. His most recent publication is titled GIOCARE A CAMMINARE (Walking as a game) which focuses on the walking simulator, a video game genre that has emerged in the last decade in the context of the so-called indie scene. The book examines the origins, development, and influence of this genre sui generis within the field of digital gaming. Additionally, the author compares the aesthetics, mechanics, and ways of playing the walking simulator with several works and artistic practice, suggesting that the two have much in common.

Born and raised in Florence, Riccardo Retez received a Master's Degree in Television, Cinema and New Media from the IULM University in Milan in 2019 and a Degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia from the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in 2017. Passionate about cinema, video games and visual culture, Riccardo has produced several short films and video clips. He is the author of MACHINIMA VERNACOLARE (Vernacular Machinima), the first academic study of the Rockstar Editor, a popular video editing software embedded in Grand Theft Auto V (2013). The author describes the dynamics of production, consumption and distribution of machinima within the fandom community, which now represent an increasingly complex media ecosystem. 

This year, Gemma, Luca and Riccardo are each curating a special program that will be exclusively screened on March 26 at the MIC, the Museum of Interactive Cinema in Milan. Tickets are still available on EventBrite although seats are limited.  

For more information about the Milan Machinima Festival please visit the official website.

Stay tuned for more and thank you for your attention.


NEWS: MMF MMXXII DISPATCH #4

Hello everyone,

My name is Matteo Bittanti and I am the artistic director of the Milan Machinima Festival, which showcases game-based video art at the end of the end of history.

On behalf of the entire curatorial staff, I am happy to reveal additional details about the fifth edition, which will take place between March 21st and 27th 2022.

As you know, the Festival’s programs feature both machinima that were submitted through an open call process and evaluated by an international panel, and a series of curated programs focusing on specific themes. For more information, please watch the previous dispatch.

In regard to this year’s submitted works I wanted to share some interesting facts.

First, a significant number of submissions were from first-time filmmakers and often qualify as student projects. This is great news: it means that machinima is evolving as a medium and an artform, especially in art schools throughout the world. But what do I mean by “world”?

WEll, compared to previous years, the vast majority of entries were submitted from just three countries: Italy, the US, and the UK. Aside from a limited number of works, most entries are either in English or in Italian with English subtitles. We are actively seeking out additional hubs and creative hot spots to diversify the selection in the future. At the same time, we do recognize that machinima as a genre of video art is especially strong in the United States, in the United Kingdom and in Europe.

Third, gender-wise, this year the filmmakers are more or less split between those who identify as "male" and as "female". This is remarkable because it demonstrates that machinima is a much more inclusive medium than the video game, which constitutes its main source material, so to speak, but also of cinema, which is still dominated by filmmakers who identify as “male”.

Finally, the acceptance rate to the Milan Machinima Festival is less than 25%. Another way of saying this is that more than 75% of submitted machinima are rejected. I hope that this does not sound discouraging to aspiring machinimamakers. On the contrary, far from being problematic, these statistics confirm that the quality, creativity, and originality of machinima have been consistently growing in the past decade and that benchmarks are constantly being updated.

Today I am happy to announce the artists featured in the MMXXII edition of the Festival. This list does not include special screenings that will be announced in another dispatch.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound admiration to all the artists and filmmakers for their incredible talent, passion and dedication. The Festival is meant as a celebration of their craft and ingenuity.

Without any further ado here is the 2022 artist line up:

  • Darío Alva (Spain)

  • Lorenzo Antei (Italy)

  • Nicolas Bailleul (France)

  • David Blandy (United Kingdom)

  • Beatrice Carpina (Italy)

  • Sam Crane (United Kingdom)

  • Federica di Pietrantonio (Italy)

  • Marie Foulston and The Grannies (United Kingdom/Australia)

  • Jamie Janković (United Kingdom)

  • Steffanie Padilla (United States)

  • Juan Poyuan (Taipei)

  • Giulio Piacentini (Italy)

  • Kelly Rabbachin (Italy)

  • Phil Rice (United States)

  • Sjors Rigters (The Netherlands)

  • Sara Sadik (France)

  • Paolo Santagostino (Italy)

  • Jordy Veenstra (The Netherlands)

  • Cris Ubermann (France)

  • Matthias Wolf (Germany)

And here’s the breakdown by country

  • Italy 7

  • United Kingdom 4

  • France 3

  • The Netherlands 2

  • United States 2

  • Australia 1

  • Germany 1

  • Spain 1

  • Taipei 1

For more information about the Milan Machinima Festival please visit the official website.

Stay tuned for more and thank you for your attention.

NEWS: MMF MMXXII DISPATCH #2: JURY PANEL MMF MMXXII

The MMF MMXXII jury panel features an international cadre of critics, curators, and scholars: Simonetta Fadda, Stefano Locati, and Jenna NG.

Born in Savona, Simonetta Fadda is an artist, educator, essayist and translator. Her teaching activity include the Accademia di Belle Arti "Giacomo Carrara" (Bergamo), Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan) and Scuola Civica di Cinema e Televisione “Luchino Visconti” (Milan). Since the Eighties, she has been working with video art. Her artworks are featured in public and private collections in Italy and in Europe. She participated in major international events such as Movimenta – Biennale de l’image en mouvement, projet Mondes Flottants: Grandes Images, Nice, France (2017) and Parallel Program of the 13th Istanbul Biennial, Institut Français d’Istanbul, Istanbul (2013). In Italy she was featured, among others, at Festival del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro, Pesaro – Italy (in We Want Cinema: cinema e video di ricerca 2018, and in Satellite 2016) and Bergamo Film Meeting, Bergamo – Italy (2010). Her video works were featured at Fondation du Doute, Blois (2018), Museo di Sant’Agostino, Genoa (2011), Museo d’Arte Moderna (MAMbo), Bologna (2008), Museo d’Arte (MAN), Nuoro, Italy (2008); Cinémathèque Française, Paris (2008); Kunst Haus Glogauer, Berlin (2007); Mach’mit Museum, Berlin (2007). In 2009, with Giuseppe Baresi, she produced the documentary In One Photo, about the artists active in the Brera district in Milan during the Sixties, including Piero Manzoni, Nanda Vigo, and Ugo La Pietra. A prolific writer and critic, Fadda is the author of the seminal Definition zero: origins of video art between politics and communication (Costa & Nolan, Milan 1999), the first Italian study on video as a medium of art and political activism (reprinted in an expanded format in 2017 by Meltemi Edizioni, Milan). In 2020, Franco Angeli published her new book, Media and art. Among her editing and translation work into Italian is Gene Youngblood’s Expanded Cinema.

Jenna NG is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Film and Interactive Media in the Department of Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media (TFTI) at the University of York. She designed and taught a wide range of cinema and digital media courses, including convening and teaching the module "Coding the Frame: Space and Time with Digital Media", for the Screen Media and Cultures MPhil at Cambridge, and supervised several MPhil essays and theses. She was previously a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Jenna NG works primarily on theoretical, cultural and critical analyses intersecting digital and visual culture, with particular interests in the imaging technologies of CGI, mobile media, haptic devices, motion and virtual capture systems. Her research interests also include the philosophy of technology, the posthuman, computational culture, interactive narrative, and the digital humanities. She has published widely on digital and visual culture. Among her many publications is The Post-Screen Through Virtual Reality, Holograms and Light Projections: Where Screen Boundaries Lie (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021) and Understanding Machinima, Essays on filmmaking in virtual worlds (Bloomsbury, 2013).

Stefano Locati is a post-doctoral research fellow at IULM University in Milan, Italy. His research focuses on Chinese and Japanese cinemas, transmedia, adaptation studies, periodical studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Literatures and Media and a master’s degree in philosophy. Heis the author of Sistema media mix. Cinema e sottoculture giovanili del Giappone contemporaneo (The Media Mix System. Cinema and Youth Subcultures of Contemporary Japan, 2022), La spada del destino. I samurai nel cinema giapponese dalle origini a oggi (The Sword of Doom. Samurai in Japanese cinema from the origin to the present, 2018), Il nuovo cinema di Hong Kong. Voci e sguardi oltre l’handover (New Hong Kong Cinema. Voices and Sights beyond the Handover, 2014, with Emanuele Sacchi), and Evolution. Darwin e il cinema (Evolution. Darwin and cinema, 2009, with Elena Canadelli). He has co-edited with Dario Boemia the volume Book Reviews and Beyond. Critical Authority, Cultural Industry, and Society in Periodicals Between the 18th and the 21st Century (2021). He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival in Venice and the artistic director of Sognielettrici/Electricdreams International Film Festival in Milan.

NEWS: MMF MMXXII NEWS DISPATCH #1

Hello everyone,

My name is Matteo Bittanti and I am the artistic director of the Milan Machinima Festival.

On behalf of the entire curatorial staff, I am happy to announce that the festival will be held from March 21 to 27 2022.

The theme of the fifth edition is "everything must change so that everything can stay the same", a tribute to Tomasi di Lampedusa whose meaning will become clear in about a week, when we will announce the full program. The first big news is that the event will take place both in theaters and online, after two years of pandemic that kept us away from physical venues.

I can already announce that on Saturday March 26, 2022 there will be a special screening at the Interactive Museum of Cinema in Milan. Tickets are available on EventBrite, but please note that seats are limited. The link is available on this very page and in video description. https://bit.ly/MMFMMXXII

We are also happy to announce that on April 1, 2022 there will be a special event at IULM University in Milan, specifically, a screening of Alessandro Redaelli's Game of the Year, a snapshot of the Italian video game culture scene. The documentary is in Italian with English subtitles. The event is free but registration via Eventbrite is mandatory. https://bit.ly/MMFGOTY

For more information on the Milan Machinima Festival, please visit the official website, milanmachinimafestival.org

Finally, a reminder that the next episode of VRAL will be online on Friday March 4.

Stay tuned for more information.

Thank you for your attention.

Salve a tutti,

Il mio nome è Matteo Bittanti e sono il direttore artistico del Milan Machinima Festival.

A nome dell’intero staff curatoriale, sono felici di annunciare che il festival si terrà dal 21 al 27 marzo 2022.

Il tema della quinta edizione è “tutto deve cambiare perché tutto resti come prima”, un omaggio a Tomasi di Lampedusa il cui significato diventerà chiaro tra una settimana circa, quando annunceremo un programma che si annuncia particolarmente ricco. La prima grande notizia è che l’evento si svolgerà in sala e online, dopo due anni di pandemia che ci avevano de facto impossibilitato l’accesso a spazi fisici.

È infatti prevista per sabato 26 marzo 2022 una proiezione speciale al Museo Interattivo del Cinema di Milano. I biglietti sono già in vendita su EventBrite. I posti disponibili sono limitati. Il link è disponibile nella descrizione del video. https://bit.ly/MMFMMXXII

Siamo inoltre felici di annunciare che il 1 aprile 2022 si terrà un evento speciale presso l’Università IULM di Milano, ossia la proiezione del film Game of the Year di Alessandro Redaelli, che fotografa la cultura videoludica italiana in tutte le sue ramificazioni. Anche in questo caso, è necessario registrarsi via EventBrite. https://bit.ly/MMFGOTY Il film sarà in italiano con sottotitoli in inglese.

Per ulteriori informazioni sul Milan Machinima Festival, visitate il sito ufficiale, milanmachinimafestival.org

Infine, vi ricordo che il prossimo episodio di VRAL sarà online venerdì quattro marzo.

Ci vediamo presto per un’altra pillola pre-festival.

Grazie per l’attenzione,

NEWS: SIMONETTA FADDA JOINS THE 2022 MMF JUROR PANEL

We are delighted to announce that artist, writer and educator Simonetta Fadda has joined the international jury panel of the Milan MACHINIMA Festival.

Born in Savona, Simonetta Fadda is an artist, educator, essayist and translator. Her teaching activity include the Accademia di Belle Arti "Giacomo Carrara" (Bergamo), Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan) and Scuola Civica di Cinema e Televisione “Luchino Visconti” (Milan). Since the Eighties, she has been working with video art. Her artworks are featured in public and private collections in Italy and in Europe. She participated in major international events such as Movimenta – Biennale de l’image en mouvement, projet Mondes Flottants: Grandes Images, Nice, France (2017) and Parallel Program of the 13th Istanbul Biennial, Institut Français d’Istanbul, Istanbul (2013). In Italy she was featured, among others, at Festival del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro, Pesaro – Italy (in We Want Cinema: cinema e video di ricerca 2018, and in Satellite 2016) and Bergamo Film Meeting, Bergamo – Italy (2010). Her video works were featured at Fondation du Doute, Blois (2018), Museo di Sant’Agostino, Genoa (2011), Museo d’Arte Moderna (MAMbo), Bologna (2008), Museo d’Arte (MAN), Nuoro, Italy (2008); Cinémathèque Française, Paris (2008); Kunst Haus Glogauer, Berlin (2007); Mach’mit Museum, Berlin (2007). In 2009, with Giuseppe Baresi, she produced the documentary In One Photo, about the artists active in the Brera district in Milan during the Sixties, including Piero Manzoni, Nanda Vigo, and Ugo La Pietra. A prolific writer and critic, Fadda is the author of the seminal Definition zero: origins of video art between politics and communication (Costa & Nolan, Milan 1999), the first Italian study on video as a medium of art and political activism (reprinted in an expanded format in 2017 by Meltemi Edizioni, Milan). In 2020, Franco Angeli published her new book, Media and art. Among her editing and translation work into Italian is Gene Youngblood’s Expanded Cinema.

Siamo felici di annunciare che l'artista, scrittrice ed educatrice Simonetta Fadda è entrata a far parte della giuria internazionale del Milan MACHINIMA Festival.

Nata a Savona, Simonetta Fadda è artista, educatrice, saggista e traduttrice. Svolge attività didattica presso alcune delle più importanti istituzioni artistiche italiane, tra cui l'Accademia di Belle Arti "Giacomo Carrara" (Bergamo), l'Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milano) e la Scuola Civica di Cinema "Luchino Visconti" (Milano). Dagli anni Ottanta lavora con la video arte. Le sue opere sono presenti in collezioni pubbliche e private in Italia e in Europa. Ha partecipato a eventi internazionali come Movimenta - Biennale de l'image en mouvement, projet Mondes Flottants: Grandes Images, Nizza, Francia (2017) e Parallel Program of the 13th Istanbul Biennial, Institut Français d'Istanbul, Instanbul, Turchia (2013). In Italia è stata presente, tra gli altri, al Festival del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro, Pesaro (nel 2018 a We Want Cinema: cinema e video di ricerca e nel 2016 a Satellite) e al Bergamo Film Meeting (2010). I suoi lavori video sono stati presentati alla Fondation du Doute a Blois (2018), al Museo di Sant'Agostino di Genova (2011), al Museo d'Arte Moderna (MAMbo) di Bologna (2008), al Museo d'Arte (MAN) di Nuoro (2008), alla Cinémathèque Française a Parigi (2008), al Kunst Haus Glogauer a Berlino (2007), al Mach'mit Museum a Berlino (2007). Nel 2009, con Giuseppe Baresi, ha prodotto il documentario In una foto, sugli artisti attivi nel quartiere di Brera a Milano negli anni Sessanta, tra cui Piero Manzoni, Nanda Vigo e Ugo La Pietra. Scrittrice e critica, Fadda è autrice del seminale Definizione zero: origini della videoarte tra politica e comunicazione (Costa & Nolan, 1999), il primo studio italiano sul video come mezzo d'arte e attivismo politico (ristampato in versione ampliata nel 2017 da Meltemi Edizioni). Nel 2020, Franco Angeli ha dato alle stampe Media e arte. Tra i suoi numerosi lavori di cura editoriale e traduzione in italiano spicca Expanded Cinema di Gene Youngblood.

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL MMXXII

The fifth edition of the MACHINIMA FILM FESTIVAL will once again take place at IULM University (Milan, Italy) during the Milano Digital Week, which celebrates the driving forces that are reshaping art, culture, and technology of Italy’s most vibrant city.

Filmmakers and video artists engaged in the practice of appropriating, repurposing, and remixing video games are encouraged to send us their work for consideration. All submissions will be judged by an international panel of jurors comprising scholars, curators, and critics. A Critics' Award will be awarded to the most groundbreaking work.

Screenings of selected machinima will be curated around different themes and presented in different sections. The most interesting submissions are those which seek to capture or highlight a specific facet of contemporary life, from politics to art, from violence to creativity, from technology to ideology, through the aesthetic lenses of digital gaming.

The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2021 

The full program will be announced in February 2022

Please carefully read our simple submission guidelines and requirements below before sending your work.

 
 

INTERNATIONAL OPEN CALL FOR NEW MEDIA ARTWORKS GUIDELINES:

The MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL defines machinima as any digital video made using video games technology (game engines, game tools, assets such as characters, items, environments etc.).

Submissions must feature machinima made with specifically with video games (not virtual worlds, e.g. Second Life).

Submissions must be 10 minutes or less in length. The minimum duration is 2 minutes.

Submissions must have been produced between January 1, 2021 and December 15, 2021.

Multiple versions of the same machinima will not be considered.

Acceptable submission formats: Digital video files only.

Acceptable exhibition formats: mp4, avi, mpg, Quicktime file (ProRes 422).

All applicants must complete the official festival submission form located on filmfreeway.com

One-time, nominal submission fee: 15 euros payable via PayPal to the festival organizers. Submissions that have not been accepted will not be refunded.

The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the machinima.

The submission must include an accompanying artist statement/description and a biography no longer than 500 words.

The MMF is under no obligation to provide comments regarding submitted machinima to any applicant.

Submission deadline: December 15, 2021

Click the button to begin the process