Press Release

With a contest for the best short film on water resource protection and a retrospective of nine movies, the ACEA Group supports another edition of the Fest, celebrating water as seen by young videomakers and great film producers

Today at the Casa del Cinema, in collaboration with Rome’s Experimental Centre of Cinematography and the Cinema Foundation for Rome, ACEA presented the contest “The Thousand Faces of water”, together with the retrospective Drops of Cinema, two initiatives created as part of the XIX edition of the Rome Film Fest, due to commence on 16 October, to narrate the element of water as seen through the eyes of young videomakers and great film producers. The press conference, moderated by Sky journalist Alessio Viola, was attended by Virman Cusenza, head of ACEA communications, Mario Sesti, critic and head of communications at the Experimental Centre, Francesca Via, general manager of the Cinema Foundation for Rome and Jacopo Mosca of the Rome Film Fest cinema office. They all emphasised the visceral connection between water and cinema imagery and the fact that Rome, Regina Aquarum and capital of aqueduct tradition, is indeed the ideal location for a celebration of this bond.

The thousand faces of water
The result of a collaboration with Rome’s Experimental Centre of Cinematography, the thousand faces of water contest is dedicated to original short films which narrate the element of water using tools such as fiction, documentaries and animation, with the aim of raising public awareness to the recovery, recycling and re-use of water resources, in keeping with the ACEA Group’s sustainable strategies. The best work, chosen by a panel comprising people and managers from Acea and critics from the Experimental Centre, will be shown on 16 October at 5 p.m. in the Borgna Studio Theatre of the Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone auditorium, where the winning videomaker will receive the ACEA Group Special Award.

Drops of Cinema
This year the Film Festival, on the initiative of the ACEA Group, will host Drops of Cinema, a retrospective of nine films dedicated to water, interpreted using the language of the “seventh art”, from an ecological, naturalistic, cultural, artistic, oneiric and religious perspective. The nine titles (Nel tempo di Cesare by Angelo Loy, Watermark by Jennifer Baichal and Edward Burtynsky, L’isola della cura by Alex Grazioli, Jaws by Steven Spielberg, The Shape of Water by Giullermo Del Toro, Nick’s Film (Lightning over Water) by Wim Wenders, From Here to Eternity by Fred Zinnemann, Prisoners of the Ocean by Alfred Hitchcock and Nostalghia by Andrej Tarkovskij) linked by a profound connection between water imagery and the stories they tell, raise the collective awareness about a resource which by definition is vital, but which is becoming more and more precious due to the threat of climate change.

ACEA Evening
On 21 October at 9.30 p.m. another appointment with the cinema is planned, promoted by the Group led by Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Palermo, with the screening of the film Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, in the Auditorium’s Sala Sinopoli.

The Booth
Alongside the other proposals by the Group, Italy’s leading water sector operator, which this year celebrates 115 years of history, there is also a booth dedicated to a display of the works competing for The thousand faces of water award and to online connections with the young videomakers. The booth will be accessible via a symbolic “blue carpet”, to reflect and highlight the importance of water resources.