special JURIES

PerSo gives the opportunity to prisoners from the Capanne District Prison to get close to the world of Social Documentaries and to assign a special 1.000 € award to a PerSo Short competition film.
Here the words from Maurizio Giacobbe and Marta Bettoni (PerSo Film Festival special jury managers) about the experience with this jury over the years:

”Six inmates from the male penal section (Antonio, Giuseppe, Salvatore, Mario, Makram and Zabit) with long sentences to be served (two of them are serving a life sentence) were the member of the first Jury of Prisoners back in 2015. From the first meeting, it was clear that the people we were dealing with are not similar to the stereotype of the prisoner we usually picture in our mind, but they have a psychological and emotional depth that we do not imagine. We felt that teaching them what we mean by Social films or Cinema du réel was an experience that enriched us and gave them breathing space. Makram talked about the hours spent with us as a flight of freedom, an opportunity to recharge dead batteries, a dominant feeling, in those who live in prison.
The following year we choose to work with inmates from the female section (Francesca, Simona, Patrizia, Cristiana, Franca, René). Also this time the training was centered on the viewing of documentary films selected for their relevance to the themes of the Festival and also in this case the answer was surprising: the active and reflective participation of the prisoners exceeded expectations and they deliver a balanced verdict to PerSo.
This convinced us to insist and to prepare a female jury for the third edition. Patrizia remained, and she was joined by Micaela, Paola, Luka and Angela. This time, as a complement to the tested training, we gave them the chance to meet two directors inside Capanne District Prison to see and comment their films: Claudia Brignone (La malattia del desiderio) and Giovanni Cioni (In purgatorio). With that, we responded to an implicit request of the inmates, who needed to know the works in their full version and to confront their authors, something that until then had been possible only for some of the short films in competition, thanks to the directors who had enthusiastically welcomed our proposal to accompany the screening in prison.”

2018

For PerSo 2018 Edition we decided to keep on working with female prisoners and to give five of them the chance to be PerSo 2018 Jury of prisoners, assigning a 1.000 € Award to best documentary short-film.
We started working in March, showing to a group of them a selection of documentaries about the strong earthquake that in 2016 damaged our region Umbria; the directors of the film had the chance to attend the screenings in District Prison of Capanne, Perugia and they were amazed by the interest and analyzing skills that the prisoners developed thanks to the previous experience with PerSo. After this positive experience we kept on with our work of analysis and discussions about other important Cinema du Reél films.
Here the PerSo 2018 Jury of Prisoners members: Katarjina, Patrizia, Luminita, Sharon, Blessing.

Social integration has always been a top priority for PerSo Film Festival. This is one of the reason why a Jury of asylum seekers has been assigning the local Umbria in Celluloide 1.000 € award for the first three Edition of the Festival. 2018 Edition of PerSo hosted Percorsi/Prospettive, a competition dedicated to Immigration themed Short films directed by under 35 Italian directors, that is why we decided to let the Jury of asylum seekers assign the 2018 Percorsi/Prospettive 1.000 € Award.
Here the words from Maurizio Giacobbe and Marta Bettoni (PerSo Film Festival special jury managers) about the experience with this jury over the years:

”The first challenge is the language. The six young asylum seekers who have joined the project, selected by Arci among the beneficiaries of SPRAR, are all Africans but have different backgrounds and speak different languages; as a second language some are English-speakers, others French-speakers. Setting up a united group able to work in harmony is not easy, both for the different levels of knowledge of Italian, and for the different personalities, attitudes, concentration skills. With them it is necessary to work more intensively in training and above all to double the viewing of the films in competition, medium-length films or feature films, in order to ensure their complete understanding. In 2015 Mohamed, Bakary, Yussuf, Mamadou and Malam as the Jury of asylum seekers awarded the worthy Soccantare by Bellani-Grugher.
To facilitate the work of the 2016 jury, we decided to renew only a part, alongside Bakary, Yussuf and Mamadou two newcomers, Bounabass and Salomon who, caught up in the enthusiasm of the veterans and their experience, quickly enter in the Jury.
For the jury of 2017, we entrust the selection of jurymen to another cooperative that manages the SPRAR project, the Perusia cooperative. The films that Emmanuel, Coulibaly, Akbar, Khobir, Ely, Mustapha and Elizabeth are called to judge are particularly demanding, both for the duration and for the themes tackled, but also on this occasion leading figures that stimulate a careful and fruitful reflection emerge.

2018

Since the positive experience of last edition PerSo decided to keep on working with Cooperativa Perusia, an establishment focused on helping and supporting immigrants in Perugia. Since the political difficulties in this moment the task of creating a stable group of asylum seekers was very difficult. We had to reduce the time of analysis and comment, but eventually we succeeded in finding four people eager to be part of the Jury of Asylum seekers.
In this Edition this special Jury assigned a very important Award in Percorsi/Prospettive section dedicated to short films made by young Italian directors and focused on the themes of immigration and social inclusion.
Here the PerSo 2018 Jury of Asylum seekers members: Emmanuel, Tufayel, Diallo, Moussa.