During the 78° Venice International Film Festival, an international jury of 15 students coming from UNIMED associated universities assigned the “UNIMED Award 2021” to the movie “E’ stata la mano di Dio” by Paolo Sorrentino.

The jury motivated its choice as follows:

This movie is a tender and intimate tale about the sparkle that lights life up, about overcoming difficulties and hiding weaknesses. Fabietto, a younger alter-ego of the director himself, is a lonley boy who has no friends. His character develops through two different stages of the adult age: weep and the first sexual intercourse. Weeping is related to introversion, to hiding feelings and not showing any other sign of weakness, besides self-isolation, grief and the beginning of the maturation process. Sex, on the other hand, represents Fabio’s obsession for the female body, which is shown through his curious, intrusive yet honest eyes. A coming of age novel dominated by characters and settings: each episode is a jigsaw piece, a fraction of Fabio’s life that will guide him through a self-analysis process and help him find his professional vocation.  Naples’ many landscapes suggest a wide world waiting to be loved and discovered, where miracles can happen at any time. Maradona represents the real miracle, capable of changing the socio-cultural environment and its condition of isolation

The UNIMED Award was created by the artist Giuseppe Verri with the curatorship of Paolo de Grandis and thanks to AETOS PARTNERS.

The UNIMED Award, collateral prize of the Venice International Film Festival and now at its 5th edition, results from the collaboration between UNIMED and la Biennale of Venice. The Award was created in memory of Prof. Franco Rizzi, former Secretary General and founder of UNIMED, for his life-long commitment to cooperation among Euro-Mediterranean universities.