Curation Hour’s top picks from Conero’s official selection
Words by Katie Huelin
As September approaches, anticipation is building for Conero Film + ADV 2025, taking place September 5-7 on Italy’s Adriatic Coast. Now in its latest edition, the festival continues to serve as a vibrant meeting point for creativity and sustainability, uniting filmmakers, creators, and visionaries from across the globe.
With the Official Selection for 2025 now announced, the lineup reveals a diverse slate of video production, each chosen for its originality, craft, and ability to spark dialogue around how we connect with the world.
To celebrate, we’re spotlighting a few standout projects from this year’s program, including films and creators whose voices and visions embody the essence of CFA. From intimate portraits to experimental journeys, these top picks capture the festival's versatility.
HERO
Mateusz Miszczyński
:This project set out to explore a simple truth: nobody's good all the time, not even those who constantly strive to do good. Ordinary people make mistakes every day - it’s part of being human. But every now and then, they also have the power to be heroes. With the support of the YES Foundation, they can turn that potential into real impact, contributing to a wide range of meaningful projects.
The goal of this production was to convey this idea using minimal production resources, focusing on everyday situations anyone could experience. The director developed a concept designed to resonate with a wide audience, centered on the act of doing good. In a truly fitting move, the director also "did good" by embedding environmental considerations directly into this concept.
This approach allowed the production to be both impactful and remarkably sustainable, demonstrating that powerful storytelling doesn't require a large footprint.
VOICEOVER
Leonardo Ferro
: Hamza, an inmate, discovers joy through cinema. The documentary follows his stream of consciousness, which shifts depending on the space he occupies and how his body reacts to the environment, revealing a profound and touching inner transformation.
BLUE EYES FILM
Andre Muir
: Blue Eyes is a lyrical short film directed by Andre Muir and starring musician Vic Mensa, serving as a visual counterpart to Mensa’s deeply personal track of the same name. Set in Jamaica and rooted in both lived experience and myth, the film confronts the enduring impact of colonialism, colorism, and internalized racism through an emotionally rich visual narrative.
The story loosely mirrors the myth of Narcissus—not as a tale of vanity, but of alienation. It draws from Vic Mensa’s own childhood desire to have blue eyes, reflecting how pervasive Eurocentric beauty ideals distort identity from an early age. In the film, blue becomes more than a color—it symbolizes aspiration toward whiteness, disconnection from heritage, and a loss of self.
As the film unfolds, color becomes a language: the blue sclera signals spiritual disfigurement, white religious icons (like the image of a white Jesus) symbolize colonial dominance, while the presence of Maroon elders and blood-toned imagery reclaim power, pride, and ancestral protection. Each color reveals an ideological wound or act of resistance.
Shot entirely in Jamaica with a local cast and crew—including community members, elders, and dancers—the film prioritizes authenticity and generational wisdom. Scenes of ritual, water immersion, and spiritual communion offer both critique and catharsis. The final sequence—a symbolic rebirth into community and cultural truth—replaces alienation with belonging.
Blue Eyes is not only a personal reckoning, but also a broader meditation on Black empowerment, ancestral memory, and the long journey back to the self. It invites viewers to reckon with the ways identity is shaped—and reclaimed—through beauty, belief, and color
RITRATTO DI UNA FAMIGLIA IN PEZZI
Ruben Gagliardini
: A portrait of the young people of the Marche who left and those who remained. The author of the painting appears to be Bosch, because as we approach the canvas, we realise that within the same frame, different people and cultures coexist, making it difficult to identify a single identity.
Mountains, hills, and sea are the body of a land as changing and multifaceted as the minds that inhabit it. The center of the painting is not found by looking at the center of the frame, but rather in the limitless nature of the young people of the Marche.
Young people who, everywhere and always, are the driving force behind the construction of a more equitable and dignified future. The Marche is a family in pieces; a land of transition, a place to settle.
THE SOUND OF BURNING MAN
Bonamaze
: After capturing the pulse of skate culture with Tony Hawk and the heartbeat of New York City, Emmy-winning director duo BONAMAZE set their sights on a new frontier: the Playa. Drawn back to Burning Man, where they first experienced its raw, unfiltered energy in 2017, they returned with one mission—to translate the soul of the desert into sound.
Armed with mics, cameras, and creative fire, they recorded over 1,500 sounds born from the dust, the art, the people, and the wind. The result? A two-minute visual symphony that distills the essence of Burning Man into a visceral audiovisual journey.
Three months of editing. Countless layers of sound. One unforgettable experience. The Sound of Burning Man isn’t just a film—it’s what Burning Man feels like.
STASIS
Griffin Glendinning
: Balance amidst chaos || In nature, it remains
A short skiing portrait of Svea Irving, exploring her deep connection to nature and passion for expression on snow.
Embark on a short visual journey of balance in constant motion, a seamless connection with the elements. Reminding us to find beauty in the things that create our surroundings, and the solitude accompanying them.
Together, these selections offer a glimpse into the amazing talent and creativity that make Conero Film + ADV 2025 such a unique event in the industry.
View the full lineup here: https://conerofilmadv.awardsengine.com/official-selection