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Italy Awarded in New York with 'Vulnerare': Best Experimental Contemporary Art Film
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The short film by Sergio Mario Illuminato conquers New York with a prestigious nomination from one of the city's main independent film festivals.
New York, August 1-10, 2025
Six months inside an abandoned prison, empty cells for thirty years, crumbling walls, thick silence. A group of Italian artists alongside students and technicians from the Academy of Fine Arts and the State Higher Education Institute Piaget Diaz in Rome enter where no one wants to stay and find something unexpected: beauty hidden in pain. Now that discovery is conquering America.
VULNERARE, the short film born from the experience in the former Pontifical Prison of Velletri and directed by Sergio Mario Illuminato, has received the official nomination in the category "Best Experimental/Music Film" at the Festival of Cinema NYC, the only New York festival simultaneously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
VULNERARE, within the framework of the artistic research project IOSONOVULNERABILE, has been recognized among the Good Cultural Practices of the Lazio Region, with the patronage of the Lazio Region, the Metropolitan City of Rome, and the Municipality of Velletri.
WHEN ART TRANSFORMS WOUNDS INTO BEAUTY
The former Pontifical Prison of Velletri tells a two-century-old story. Built in the nineteenth century under papal authority, it served as a court and detention center for the Papal States. Closed in the 1990s and left empty for over thirty years, by 2023 it seemed destined for irreversible transformation.
But before that happened, painters, photographers, dancers, and musicians made it their home. For six months, they inhabited decadent cells and corridors, transforming every corner into a creative laboratory. Abandoned spaces in Italy become places of artistic resurrection.
"The Lazio Region firmly supports initiatives that use art as a tool for rehabilitation and social reintegration. VULNERARE is a virtuous example of creating hope for a new beginning, even within the context of detention," says Luisa Regimenti, Councilor for Personnel, Urban Security, Local Police, Local Authorities, and the University of the Lazio Region.
The result is VULNERARE: 13 minutes and 30 seconds that defy definition. It is not just experimental cinema or video art. It is a journey into the soul through what the director calls Communicating Artistic Organisms - living works that ferment, transform before the viewer's eyes.
THE "THRESHOLD CINEMA" ARRIVES IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK
The nomination honors the visionary approach of Threshold Cinema, a method developed by Illuminato that combines improvisation, emotional listening, and transformation of real space into symbolic place.
"This place is not just an abandoned prison but a contemporary cathedral of vulnerability. It is a place of rebirth: and it is art that must express it." Sergio Mario Illuminato
AN INTERNATIONAL PRESTIGE JURY
Evaluating the "Best Experimental/Music Film" category is an exceptional jury composed of key figures in international cinema:
Dito Montiel, director and screenwriter ("A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", "Man Down")
Anna Garduno, executive producer and coach for Netflix
Amy Peters, Emmy Award winner for television and documentary content
Doug LeClaire, founder of the traveling festival Asbury Shorts USA
Isil Bagdadi, president of Cavu Pictures, international distribution expert
Raye Levine Spielberg, emerging actress in independent theater and cinema
David Josh Lawrence, acquisitions manager at Glass House Distribution
The Festival of Cinema NYC is IMDb qualifying and ranks in the Top 100 on FilmFreeway.
A CAST DANCING AMIDST THE RUINS
Choreographies by Patrizia Cavola and Ivan Truol (Atacama Company), with Camilla Perugini and Nicholas Baffoni, transform claustrophobic spaces into stages of freedom. The photography by Federico Marchi and Roberto Biagiotti plays with visual tension between the black and white of the past and the chromatic explosion of rebirth with color grading by Alessandro Ammendola of Pyramid Factory. The original soundtrack by Andrea Moscianese and sound design by Davide Palmiotto guide the viewer on an emotional journey: from the dramatic prison environment to a horizon of creative possibilities.
VULNERABLE, THEREFORE, ALIVE - ART AND LOVING REALITY
The film ends with the inscription carved on the prison wall: "Vulnerable therefore alive, art is loving reality." And with a hidden message in Morse code, audible in the audio track: IOSONOVULNERABILE.
"A short film that seeks to open a communicative channel with contemporaries, speaking of memory and places where this memory has condensed." Sergio Battista, film critic.
FROM PERFORMANCE TO GLOBAL RECOGNITION
Before becoming cinema, VULNERARE was a live experience. Thousands of visitors passed through the former prison, then the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, then the Villa Altieri Museum in Rome. Each time, the same discovery: vulnerability as strength, not weakness.
"We witness a rebirth through art. It is culture that opens our eyes to what has been and what it can become. Thanks to Sergio Mario Illuminato, the history of this building comes to life." Chiara Ercoli, Deputy Mayor, Councilor for Culture, Municipality of Velletri.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION AND NEW FEATURE FILM
Participation in the Festival of Cinema in New York opens promising scenarios for the international distribution of the short film and fits into an expanding artistic journey. In 2026, Sergio Mario Illuminato will realize his first feature film, "La soglia di Basalto" (The Threshold of Basalt), between Rome, Milan, and Pantelleria. A work that deepens the bond between nature, memory, and inner transformation.
The nomination is also an important step for the IOSONOVULNERABILE project and for the MOVIMENTO VULNERARTE APS, which promotes powerful reflection on human fragility, rebirth, and collective memory through art.
"This recognition is the international confirmation of an artistic path that believes in the power of art: to transform places of pain into spaces of rebirth," Sergio Mario Illuminato.
New York, August 1-10, 2025
Six months inside an abandoned prison, empty cells for thirty years, crumbling walls, thick silence. A group of Italian artists alongside students and technicians from the Academy of Fine Arts and the State Higher Education Institute Piaget Diaz in Rome enter where no one wants to stay and find something unexpected: beauty hidden in pain. Now that discovery is conquering America.
VULNERARE, the short film born from the experience in the former Pontifical Prison of Velletri and directed by Sergio Mario Illuminato, has received the official nomination in the category "Best Experimental/Music Film" at the Festival of Cinema NYC, the only New York festival simultaneously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
VULNERARE, within the framework of the artistic research project IOSONOVULNERABILE, has been recognized among the Good Cultural Practices of the Lazio Region, with the patronage of the Lazio Region, the Metropolitan City of Rome, and the Municipality of Velletri.
WHEN ART TRANSFORMS WOUNDS INTO BEAUTY
The former Pontifical Prison of Velletri tells a two-century-old story. Built in the nineteenth century under papal authority, it served as a court and detention center for the Papal States. Closed in the 1990s and left empty for over thirty years, by 2023 it seemed destined for irreversible transformation.
But before that happened, painters, photographers, dancers, and musicians made it their home. For six months, they inhabited decadent cells and corridors, transforming every corner into a creative laboratory. Abandoned spaces in Italy become places of artistic resurrection.
"The Lazio Region firmly supports initiatives that use art as a tool for rehabilitation and social reintegration. VULNERARE is a virtuous example of creating hope for a new beginning, even within the context of detention," says Luisa Regimenti, Councilor for Personnel, Urban Security, Local Police, Local Authorities, and the University of the Lazio Region.
The result is VULNERARE: 13 minutes and 30 seconds that defy definition. It is not just experimental cinema or video art. It is a journey into the soul through what the director calls Communicating Artistic Organisms - living works that ferment, transform before the viewer's eyes.
THE "THRESHOLD CINEMA" ARRIVES IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK
The nomination honors the visionary approach of Threshold Cinema, a method developed by Illuminato that combines improvisation, emotional listening, and transformation of real space into symbolic place.
"This place is not just an abandoned prison but a contemporary cathedral of vulnerability. It is a place of rebirth: and it is art that must express it." Sergio Mario Illuminato
AN INTERNATIONAL PRESTIGE JURY
Evaluating the "Best Experimental/Music Film" category is an exceptional jury composed of key figures in international cinema:
Dito Montiel, director and screenwriter ("A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", "Man Down")
Anna Garduno, executive producer and coach for Netflix
Amy Peters, Emmy Award winner for television and documentary content
Doug LeClaire, founder of the traveling festival Asbury Shorts USA
Isil Bagdadi, president of Cavu Pictures, international distribution expert
Raye Levine Spielberg, emerging actress in independent theater and cinema
David Josh Lawrence, acquisitions manager at Glass House Distribution
The Festival of Cinema NYC is IMDb qualifying and ranks in the Top 100 on FilmFreeway.
A CAST DANCING AMIDST THE RUINS
Choreographies by Patrizia Cavola and Ivan Truol (Atacama Company), with Camilla Perugini and Nicholas Baffoni, transform claustrophobic spaces into stages of freedom. The photography by Federico Marchi and Roberto Biagiotti plays with visual tension between the black and white of the past and the chromatic explosion of rebirth with color grading by Alessandro Ammendola of Pyramid Factory. The original soundtrack by Andrea Moscianese and sound design by Davide Palmiotto guide the viewer on an emotional journey: from the dramatic prison environment to a horizon of creative possibilities.
VULNERABLE, THEREFORE, ALIVE - ART AND LOVING REALITY
The film ends with the inscription carved on the prison wall: "Vulnerable therefore alive, art is loving reality." And with a hidden message in Morse code, audible in the audio track: IOSONOVULNERABILE.
"A short film that seeks to open a communicative channel with contemporaries, speaking of memory and places where this memory has condensed." Sergio Battista, film critic.
FROM PERFORMANCE TO GLOBAL RECOGNITION
Before becoming cinema, VULNERARE was a live experience. Thousands of visitors passed through the former prison, then the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, then the Villa Altieri Museum in Rome. Each time, the same discovery: vulnerability as strength, not weakness.
"We witness a rebirth through art. It is culture that opens our eyes to what has been and what it can become. Thanks to Sergio Mario Illuminato, the history of this building comes to life." Chiara Ercoli, Deputy Mayor, Councilor for Culture, Municipality of Velletri.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION AND NEW FEATURE FILM
Participation in the Festival of Cinema in New York opens promising scenarios for the international distribution of the short film and fits into an expanding artistic journey. In 2026, Sergio Mario Illuminato will realize his first feature film, "La soglia di Basalto" (The Threshold of Basalt), between Rome, Milan, and Pantelleria. A work that deepens the bond between nature, memory, and inner transformation.
The nomination is also an important step for the IOSONOVULNERABILE project and for the MOVIMENTO VULNERARTE APS, which promotes powerful reflection on human fragility, rebirth, and collective memory through art.
"This recognition is the international confirmation of an artistic path that believes in the power of art: to transform places of pain into spaces of rebirth," Sergio Mario Illuminato.
Who went?
0
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maybe
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