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:
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.
