Bio
Rossella Piccinno earned a degree in documentary and experimental filmmaking from the DAMS, Bologna, before specializing as video production technician. Her directorial debut short film was "Interno sei" (2005), followed by the documentaries "Mauritania, the ancient libraries in the desert" (2006), "Occhi negli occhi - recollection of a journey" (2007), "Voices of native italian and migrant women" (2008), the videoelegy "To my Darling" (2008) and the award winning "Hanna and Violka". In the last two years she was resident artist at "Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Arts" in France, where she earned a degree in « cinema and digital arts » and she realized the short fiction film (S16mm) "The recall of the songbird" (2010) and the interective video installation "Eruption of the end" (2011).
Artist’s statement:
Rossella Piccinno’s work explores cultural identity, problems linked to discrimination or the conflict involved in power and role games in the family as in the community. She often works on individual and collective memory and the relation this develops with the past.
She started out as a documentary film-maker and remains attached to the anthropological approach, in general using video to establish a deeper contact with herself and with others in order to consciously develop the notion of “being in the world.” Touched by social themes and very sensitive to women’s issues, she has for a long time worked on the subjects of immigration and the family. She often uses archive images, privileging a cross-over of registers and language, which leads her to pass between documentary, fiction, and multi-media installations. In her last work “Eruption of the End,” made in Northern France, she worked on the concept of inheritance or disinheritance of a community with regard to its industrial past, succeeding in using video and interactive technology to make the people of the place both collaborators and active participants in the production and realization of the work. She is now ever more oriented towards a stylistic approach that finds its place amongst the performative genre, cinematic and "ethnographic".
Education:
2009-2011 Master's degree in "Cinema and Digital Arts" at Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Arts, Tourcoing, France.
2004-2005 Postgraduate qualification as "Digital Videomaker", at the IAL, Imola (Bo), Italy.
1998-2003 Graduate in "Documentary and Experimental Cinematography" with distinction at the D.A.M.S., Department of Cinema, Alma mater Studiorum - University of Studies, Bologna, Italy.
Residencies:
2012: Engage Project, Bucarest, Romania (March 2012)
2012: Nes Artist Residency, Skagastrond, Iceland (April-May 2012)
2009: Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Skopje, Macedonia
Exhibitions:
2011: Panorama 13, curated by Bernard Marcadé, Tourcoing, France
2010: Panorama 12, Soft Machine, curated by Fabrice Bousteau, Tourcoing, France
2009: Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Skopje, Macedonia
Works:
2011 Interactive video installation “Eruption of the End” (15’). Concept and art direction.
2010 Short fiction film “The Recall of the Songbird”(10’). Script, direction, editing.
2010 Video “Ciao Mammina”(15’), “Lille Flandres”(08’), “Box n.1” (11’), “Box n.2” (09’). Script, Direction, editing.
2009 Documentary film “Hanna and Violka” (56’). Script, direction, editing.
2008 Experimental film “Come out from Hibernation” (25’). Script, direction, editing.
2008 Short documentary film “Like Yesterday” (05’). Script, direction, editing.
2008 Film of art “To my Darling” (26’). Co-direction with Tommaso del Signore and editing.
2007 Short documentary film “Voices of Native Italian and Migrant Women” (13’). Script, direction, editing.
2007 Short documentary film “Occhi negli Occhi, Recollection of a Journey” (08’). Script, direction, editing.
2006 Documentary film “Mauritania, the Ancient Libraries in the Desert” (53’). Script, direction, editing.
2005 Short fiction film “Interno sei” (09’) Script, direction, editing.
Awards:
2011
Prix des Amis du Fresnoy for the installation "Eruption of the end" presented in the exhibition Panorama 13
Special mention at Summer Corto Café Festival for "The Recall of the Songbird"
Special mention of the secondary school jury at the Festival Terra di Cinema of Tremblay-en-France for " The Recall of the Songbird "
2010
Valpolicella Film Festival, best short film for "The Recall of the Songbird"
Festival Visioni Fuori Raccordo, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
Etno Film Fest, section Etno Film, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
Festival lo Sguardo di Omero, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
A-Accoglienza Riace Film Festival, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
Quadra Film Festival, Migranti il Cinema dell'Incontro, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
2009
Med Film Festival (Roma), Prize Open Eyes best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
Festival Obiettivi sul Lavoro, best documentary for "Hanna & Violka"
A-Accoglienza Riace Film Festival, second prize for "Voices of Native Italian and Migrant Women"
Festival Eta beta Social Movie, special mention for " Voices of Native Italian and Migrant Women "
Dieci Minuti Film Festival, best editing for "Like Yesterday"
2008
Brixen Art Film Festival, best film for "To my Darling"
Video Festival di Imperia, best travel documentary for "Occhi negli Occhi, Recollection of a Journey"
Premio Caboto Film Festival, audience award for "Occhi negli occhi, Recollection of a Journey"
Prize Visioni del Territorio for " Voices of Native Italian and Migrant Women "
Concorso donne Movie-ing, special mention for "Like yesterday"