Trieste Science+Fiction Festival announces Closing Film and Award Jurors
Daniela Forever set to close the festival
Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) stars in Daniela Forever, director Nacho Vigalondo’s (Colossal) return to science fiction
This year’s jurors are Allison Gardner, João Monteiro, Justin Lockey, Jeremy Dyson, Cristian Solimeno & Luna Gualano
Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, the leading event in Italy devoted to science fiction scheduled from October 29th to November 3rd, has confirmed the festival’s closing film, DANIELA FOREVER.
Timecrimes and Colossal director Nacho Vigalondo returns to science fiction with a heartfelt romance across memory-infused dream-worlds. Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding plays Nick, devastated by the sudden death of his lover, Daniela. When enrolling in a clinical trial for lucid dreaming is suggested, Nick discovers he can rewrite his history by controlling his dreams. But how long can the fantasy last? Using multiple styles and exciting techniques to distinguish between reality and fantasy, Vigalondo cleverly uses sci-fi to explore deep truths about love, loss, and the human condition in a poetic, funny, visual enchantment.
Trieste have also announced the Jurors for their two awards, The Asteroid Jury Award and the Silver Méliès Jury Award. Included among the jurors are Film Festival Founders, Musicians, Writers and Directors.
The Asteroid Jury Award
Allison Gardner
Allison joined Glasgow Film in 1993 as a Duty Manager and began to work in the programme team eventually becoming Programme Director and Co-director of Glasgow Film Festival. She became the CEO in April 2020 and is also the Director of Glasgow Film Festival.
What began as a single screen cinema 50 years ago has become Scotland’s most diverse and best publicly attended independent cinema in Scotland, with Glasgow Film Festival one of the top film festivals in the UK.
João Monteiro
João Monteiro has a degree in Art History, founded CTLX – Lisbon Horror Film Club and, in 2007, MOTELX – International Horror Film Festival of Lisbon, where he has served as co-director and programmer to this day. In 2022, he edited, in the context of MOTELX, The Lost Room of MOTELX – Portuguese Horror Films (1911- 2006), the first book about Portuguese genre films. He directed the documentary that won the Portuguese Academy Award in 2018, In the Interstices of Reality or the Cinema of António de Macedo, and is in post-production of a new film about the relationship between Raúl Ruiz The Territory and Wim Wenders The State of Things.
Justin Lockey
Justin Lockey is a world-renowned musician, composer, writer, director and photographer. He is the lead guitarist and producer of the multi-platinum-selling band Editors, and as a director, Justin has shot countless Music Videos for many renowned and revered bands worldwide. As a writer, Justin was mentored by Abi Morgan. His 8-part audio drama The Salvation was released by Amazon/Audible in 2023, and the series is now in development with 1Community to be turned into an American TV series. Justin has several projects in development across the TV, film, and audio drama sectors.
Silver Méliès Jury Award
Jeremy Dyson
He is best known as the co-creator and co-writer of the multi-award-winning British comedy TV show The League Of Gentlemen (1999-2017). Aside from The League he was co-creator/writer of the BAFTA-nominated comedy drama Funland (2005) and the Rose-d’or winning all female sketch show Psychobitches (2013- 2014). His play Ghost Stories, co-written with Andy Nyman was nominated for an Olivier award, and has enjoyed three separate West End runs since debuting.
in 2010, together with many international productions. The film version of Ghost Stories (2017), written and directed by Andy and Jeremy won the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for best debut feature in 2019.
Cristian Solimeno
He is a restless creative who works in lots of different media. He’s a published photographer, a notable UK actor and an award winning film maker who has directed multiple short films and 3 feature films. He has a photography studio in West London and his work in that area recently culminated in “Photographs of invisible things”, a in photographic book and his first solo exhibition. He is currently in post production on his 4th feature called Love in a Time of Endings, a bittersweet romantic comedy set in a near future where everyone is closing down and everyone seems to be losing their jobs to artificial intelligence.
Luna Gualano
Luna Gualano has been directing films, music videos, and commercials for over twelve years, in addition to being an editor and producer. She debuted with Psychomentary (2013), which was followed by award-winning social-themed horror Go Home (2018).
In 2021, she directed Credimi!, and began her collaboration with the production company Mompracem. In 2023, her film Tales From the Block was selected at Rome Film Festival, Trieste Science+Fiction and Rotterdam IFF. The same year, she co- wrote with Emiliano Rubbi and the Manetti Bros their upcoming film U.S Palmese
and won the Heroes Action Award. She currently teaches directing at the Roma Film Academy in Cinecittà.
