Cammarata (Italy). The short film made by the young people of Maria Ausiliatrice Housing Community – Longo of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Cammarata, Agrigento, of the Sicilian Province Mother Maddalena Morano (ISI), reached the finals at the Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival (DBGYFF). It was among the 52 best videos selected out of 549 sent from more than 40 countries around the world. The final phase of the Festival, which took place simultaneously in various locations around the world, had its epicenter in Los Angeles, California, on 13 October 2023, with the official award ceremony for the short films.
The DBGYFF is the world-class Salesian youth film festival conceived and proposed by the Social Communication Sector of the Salesians of Don Bosco to involve young people in the expression of their talents and to make them ambassadors of a message of universal value: “Love builds peace and solidarity”, the theme of this second edition of the festival.
“A beautiful initiative that stimulates youth creativity and raises awareness of the themes so dear to the Salesian world: love, peace, solidarity, naturally involving young people, as our dear Don Bosco did”, says Alessandra Consiglio, legal operator of the Community that welcomes twelve unaccompanied foreign minors.
“We were made aware of the announcement to participate in the competition as a Salesian Institute that hosts unaccompanied foreign minors, therefore young people, because the announcement was aimed exclusively at young people up to 25 years of age. The participation requirements were not very simple, because there were also technical prerogatives to be respected, in addition to the creative aspect to be developed according to the assigned theme. There were many participants also from Italy, including ours!
Our Community participated in the competition with a short film entitled ‘Words in pause’, written and directed by our educator and director Enrico Madonia.
The story is simple. It represents the daily life of a boy like many others, who tries to find inspiration for the theme entitled ‘Love builds peace and solidarity’, but can’t find the words, can’t write, so ‘he puts the words on hold’. He goes out and finds his inspiration thanks to gestures of love that inhabit the places, in this case a bench.
Sister Giuseppina Brucculeri, FMA of the Community, with her magnificent presence, is one of the main figures, together with the protagonist, Mohamed, and many other extras, including volunteers, workers, educators, and children of the Community.
With our simple means, the skill of Enrico, and of all the children, we managed to present the short film to the world competition and to our great surprise, we reached the finals. Only three were selected from Italy, and one of them is ours!
The awards were given by Region, as a geographical area, and in the Middle East and Europe Region we came third. But above all, we are proud to have taken part in an event that carries forward Salesian values, values that today, more than ever, must accompany us and we must use to counter the atrocities that surround us”.
Sister Nella Cutrali, Animator of the Community, expressed her joy at the experience in an interview. “It was exciting to participate in this initiative. Our Community took part in the competition thanks to the commitment of the children, but also of the educators. Inclusion, hospitality, education are values that travel transversally also through these creative activities. As Salesians, we cannot fail to take advantage of these initiatives to promote our young people (cf. QdS.it).
Semplice, ma vero. Molto coinvolgenti i primi piani. Complimenti ragazzi!! E grazie alle Sorelle della Comunità e agli Educatori per il loro amore donato in servizio quotidiano.