Special event closing short film

Happy Birthday

Directed by Giorgio Ferrero
Italy 2022
Runtime 20'

Bianca celebrates her 22nd birthday in a small flat in a brutalist neighbourhood on the outskirts of Moscow. To the digital world, Bianca is Electa, known on social media for her touching dance performances and her obsession with the colour white. She was born in Norilsk, Siberia, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and is part of the international group of young people who gravitate to Radio Esperanza Libre, a podcast channel founded by Anita Lopez, a young environmentalist speaker based in Argentina. Anita and Electa met by chance on the internet because, in addition to their shared interest in environmental issues, they share a curious date of birth: 29 February. Electa’s network of virtual connections becomes the only possible escape route for Bianca, at a time when climate change is unfortunately not the only urgency around her. The podcast of Monday 28 February 2022 is an opportunity for Electa to raise a cry for help. Sometimes it is possible to build a concrete path of hope even through seemingly distant connections.

This short film was filmed in Moscow in March 2022. The direction of the film, the direction of photography and the executive production were made completely in a virtual way through video calls from Italy and Uzbekistan.

Directed by
Giorgio Ferrero

Screenplay
Giorgio Ferrero

Cinematography
Federico Biasin

Editing
Davide Santilli, Giorgio Ferrero

Music
Giorgio Ferrero

Sound
Danilo Romancino, Irina Shatrova

Sound design
Marco Marasciuolo

Production design and Costumes
Yana Zimmar

Cast
Masha Shemuranova

Executive production
Lika Alekseeva – LA Productions

Production
Federico Biasin, Giorgio Ferrero, Margot Mecca (MyBossWas)

Distribution and International sales
Premiere Film

Giorgio Ferrero

Giorgio Ferrero (1980) is a composer, film director, sound artist and creative director. He composed and produced soundtracks for dozens of films, theatre performances and art installations. He collaborated with artists such as Paolo Giordano, David LaChapelle, Daniele Gaglianone, Roberto Saviano, Alba Rohrwacher and many more. He worked on sound and visual installations exhibited at the Museo del Novecento, MAXXI, the Bordeaux and Lisbon Biennales, and the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. At the 74. Venice Film Festival he presented his feature debut Beautiful Things, winner of the Best Italian Film at the Biennale College Cinema 2016 and the Best First Film at the CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. The film has been screened in over 70 festivals worldwide and translated in 16 languages. In Venice, he also premiered his virtual reality short film Denoise. With Federico Biasin, Rodolfo Mongitore and Marco Quartana, he runs the multidisciplinary creative studio MyBossWas, which he founded in Turin in 2011.