Press Release

Ocean cleaner, directed by Davide Salucci, wins first place in the contest depicting water resources in the era of climate change 

Ocean cleaner was awarded the ACEA Group Special Award for the best short film on the reuse of water resources, in competition at The Thousand Faces of Water contest. Directed by Davide Salucci, the short film tells the poetic story of a little robot that escapes from the swimming pool where it works to clean up the great oceans. The short films Keep cool, keep full directed by Simone Tosi, and Quei due (“Those two”) directed by Martina Acazi won the second place ex aequo. The short by Simone Tosi is a hymn to sustainability that, using the language of advertising campaigns, follows the journey of a water bottle as it passes from hand to hand. It demonstrates how a conscious use of water can greatly impact the environment. On the other hand, Quei due, directed by Martina Acazi, stages a series of didactic “cartoons” in which two children educate their parents on saving water, set against the background of a domestic interior.

Two juries, a technical one consisting of ACEA’s top management and experts from the Rome’s Experimental Centre of Cinematography, and another consisting of the company’s employees, selected the winning short films among the 86 entries in the competition, which was designed to raise public awareness on the reuse of water resources and to discuss water in the era of climate change. All the participating filmmakers have interpreted the theme with originality, without forgetting the importance of water education that the Acea Group promotes in Italian schools through a memorandum signed with the Ministry of Education and Merit.

Held in the Borgna Studio Theatre of Parco della Musica Auditorium during the opening night of the Rome Film Fest, and hosted by the journalist Alessio Viola, the event was attended by participating filmmakers, Fabrizio Palermo, CEO and General Manager of ACEA, Adriano De Santis, Director of the Experimental Centre of Cinematography–National Film School, and Salvo Nastasi, President of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma and of the Rome Film Fest.

“For the first time, this year the Rome Film Fest is dedicated to water” – stated Fabrizio Palermo, CEO of Acea –. Cinema and water define an interesting combination from an artistic point of view, as demonstrated by the history of cinema itself. Together, they can become an ideal instrument through which it is possible to disseminate a new culture on the recovery and reuse of water. The prize The Thousand Faces of Water aims to highlight the need for change and the water transition that will become more and more crucial in the light of new economic and technological scenarios and of the risks related to the climate change.” 

Click here to check the calendar of Acea’s programme at the Rome Film Fest