IL COMPLEANNO DI ENRICO – Distorted Memories

It is December 1999, and in the midst of the fear surrounding the Millennium Bug, Enrico finds himself in an isolated house in the Veneto countryside, attending the birthday of his schoolmate Francesco, towards whom he feels a deep sense of envy.

“Enrico’s Birthday” is “a film about memory and how we remember things.” This is how director Francesco Sossai introduces his short film. The events are autobiographical and take place in locations familiar to the director. Sossai aims to bring to the screen a particular childhood memory that he has never fully understood. The mind dives into the past, and the distorted memory warps reality, devoid of logical structure and taking on a surreal quality, like a nightmare. “It’s a film about being a child,” the director further explains. The point of view is that of a ten-year-old child, confronted with the fear of an impending change that will affect his future: the Millennium Bug.

The true protagonist of the film is the landscape, a visual projection of memory and its central theme. The locations chosen by the director alternate between the familiar and the terrifying, brilliantly capturing the idea of the uncanny. The directorial choices, such as emphasizing details and the careful use of nighttime settings, aim to portray the “distortions typical of memories in a grotesque way.” The locations are filtered through emotion using close-ups and zooms on the characters’ faces to highlight their expressions. The sharp use of cinematography helps recreate a vintage atmosphere, turning the film into an old photo album.

The short film was produced in 2024 by Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin KIDAM and distributed by Première Film. It was selected for competition as an Italian short film at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes and has also participated in several festivals, including the Brussels Short Film Festival 2024 and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2024.