Nominees announced for 2015 Mario Verdone Award

The nominees for this year's Mario Verdone award are- Michele Alhaique for Senza nessuna pietà, Bonifacio Angius for Perfidia, Giuseppe Bonito for Pulce non c’è, Laura Halilovic for Io Rom Romantica, Sebastiano Riso for Darker than Midnight, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli for Last Summer and Sydney Sibilia for I can quit whenever I want - are the 7 filmmakers that will compete at the VI edition of the Mario Verdone Award that will be delivered by brothers Silvia, Carlo and Luca Verdone during the XVI edition of the European Film Festival, taking place in Lecce from 13 to 18 April 2015.

The award is given to filmmakers under the age of 35. "It's a way of further highlighting the discovery of young talent and giving visibility to film that looks set to grow", explained Festival director, Alberto La Monica, on behalf of the Selection Committee that includes Laura delli Colli, head of SNGCI, and Marcello Foti, director of the Experimental Film Centre.

“It's a study of new cinema and an idea that we support because it's more successful in offering an award that, on our father's behalf, strives to encourage and acts as genuine scouting”, recalled the Verdone brothers: it will be up to them to choose the winner. “The seven directors selected this year in competition are all screening very interesting movies and it's great to observe that every year (and this is the sixth) our cinema industry can produce high quality debuts”.

The prize dedicated to Mario Verdone was set up in 2010 by the European Film Festival, to award young directors making their first or second work.

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