From 11 to 13 November, Bergamo hosts the fourth edition of the Made Film Festival, the event dedicated to corporate movies. The festival will feature screenings, meetings and debates in which the evolution of work, business and society will be explored through the language of audiovisual media.
Conceived by the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce during the year of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture, the Made Film Festival has aimed from the outset to become a permanent fixture, centred on workers, business culture and the local “know-how”. Events will take place at Spazio Daste and Schermo Bianco, while the Sala Sestini of the Palazzo dei Contratti e delle Manifestazioni will host the session dedicated to young people. According to Giovanni Zambonelli, President of the Chamber of Commerce, the event’s track record is positive and growing. In an increasingly globalised market where everything revolves around cutting costs, telling the story of companies’ quality and skills becomes even more necessary.
The opening is entrusted to Made Young, a preview designed specifically for students. The young participants followed a programme of lessons and workshops run by the partners of the Scientific Committee, learning the basics of film language and how to read images critically. Acting as a jury, they will award the MADE Young Prize to their favourite short film.
The competition is free to enter and open to companies of every sector and size willing to tell their story through a short film that is more than a simple promotional spot. According to Maria Paola Esposito, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce, the aim is to bring out how companies manage people, the environment, transparency and governance, through dialogue between directors and entrepreneurs. Among the examples in this edition is the MADE IN artistic residency, with Il tempo di un sogno by Zeno Castaldi. The film tells the story of the Bike Economy and the company 3T, a case of reshoring that brings production back to Italy and to the Bergamo area. There is also a growing strand of corporate movies that use artificial intelligence to make the most of archives, patents and company history.
This year 120 works arrived from all over Italy, compared with 85 in the previous edition: an increase of more than 41%. Lombardy leads with 56 entries, 47% of the total, driven by Bergamo (30) and Brescia (9). In all, 12 regions are represented, including Veneto (19 works), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (10), Tuscany, Piedmont and Apulia. There are also projects with international links, with sets and company sites in Cameroon, Austria, Switzerland and France. As Zambonelli points out, the result reflects the economic weight of a territory, Bergamo, that ranks eighth among Italian provinces for production and fifth for exports, with a business fabric ranging from large industry to artisan workshops and agriculture.
The best corporate movie will be chosen through the Official MADE Prize, awarded by the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce and judged by a jury made up of Fabio Tamburini, editor of Il Sole 24 Ore, Antonella Bilotto of the Centro per la Cultura d’Impresa and Marina Marzotto of Propaganda Italia. The Brescia Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, presents the FUTURA Special Prize, dedicated to the environment and sustainability, which will be awarded by Maria Chieppa of Probrixia, Ludovico Monforte of Futura Expo and entrepreneur Elena Pagani. Up for grabs are €5,000 for the MADE Prize and €4,000 for FUTURA, plus trophies for all three sections, Young included.
Photo credit: Rafi Mohammed via Unsplash
