Catanzaro has transformed into a lively center of culture, creativity and participation thanks to Cloud, the Comics and Games Festival, held at the San Giovanni Monumental Complex.
A festival that not only attracted hundreds of passionate and curious young people, but was also a unique platform for the meeting between generations and for the discovery of the most recent trends in the world of comics and gaming.
The event, a project of the Municipality of Catanzaro, organized by Politeama Foundation with the artistic direction of Twenty Authorswas created with the collaboration ofAcademy of Fine Arts of CatanzaroL’Magna Graecia University and thanks to the fundamental support of Foundation Load – Cassa di Risparmio di Calabria and Lucania.
Cloud, therefore, has demonstrated that Catanzaro is capable of hosting high-level cultural events, strengthening its role as a hotbed of talent and creativity.
«”We are extremely proud of how the Festival Cloud has been able to attract such a varied and passionate audience”, declared the Councilor for Culture, Donatella Monteverdi.
«This event not only celebrates the culture of comics and gaming – he added – but also represents a moment of great participation for our city. The enthusiastic response from the public is proof that Catanzaro has all the potential to grow and establish itself as a cultural center of excellence.”
The festival presented a series of activities including exhibitions, workshops, meetings with authors and illustrators, as well as areas dedicated to gaming. All this contributed to creating an engaging and stimulating atmosphere, confirming the festival as an unmissable event in the city’s cultural calendar.
During the festival, very important guests were present, including professional comic authors, who shared their experiences and passions with audiences of all ages. Furthermore, the festival was also able to enhance Calabrian talents, awarding the “Gianni De Luca” prize, established in memory of the famous artist from Gagliato.
The prize, in fact, was awarded to the artist from Crotone Vincenzo Filosa, «because he was able to create an ideal bridge, an embrace, between East and West, through a skillful mix of the different stylistic registers of the Italian and Japanese tradition, both from a narrative and graphic point of view. With his latest work, Il Saraceno, Vincenzo Filosa has made complex imagery accessible to the younger generations, simplifying the most difficult themes without ever trivializing them. But above all he was able to guide us in the direction of a high and visionary project of comics art, following in the footsteps of the great masters of world comics and of Japanese culture in particular.”
The winner of the prize – which consists of an artistic artefact created by the student from the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, Alois Arruzza – was selected by a technical jury composed of Donatella Monteverdi (councilor for culture of the Municipality of Catanzaro), Virgilio Piccari (President of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro), Tito Faraci (Cartoonist, writer, editor of the Feltrinelli Comics series), Andrea Mazzotta (Journalist and expert in comics art), Laura DeLuca (Journalist, artist and daughter of Gianni De Luca).
Gianni De Luca was a cartoonist, illustrator, painter and engraver, originally from Gagliato, and is universally recognized as one of the greatest masters of the ninth art, to which he dedicated most of his experiments.
The awards ceremony took place at the end of a long and well-attended day that began with the “One Piece” themed treasure hunt and the colorful invasion of cosplayers from all over Calabria.
After the performances that took place on the Sandro Pertini terrace of the San Giovanni monumental complex, the jury of Cloud Comics has announced the winners of the contest in the “best cosplay”, “best performance” and “best tailoring” categories. The performances and costumes proposed by the participants colored the first edition of the regional contest in the city of Catanzaro with fun, joy and art. There was also great participation in the seminar on Manga held by maestro Vincenzo Filosa.
And then the giant games on the Sandro Pertini terrace organized byJoka Calabria Association and board games by Troll’s Den.
The morning continued in the cloister, the talk area of Cloudwith the presentation of the graphic novel “Officine del macello, the decimation of the Catanzaro Brigade” with the authors Elettra Stamboulis And Gianluca Costantini. The event, moderated by the journalist Bruno Mirantesaw the participation of the scholar Mario Saccà and the historian Salvatore Bullotta.
In the afternoon, the presentation of issue zero of the magazine took place China yellow with the participation of the editorial director Laura Papa and the screenwriter Giulia Biondino. Next, the artist Gianluca Costantini presented together with journalists Andrea Celia Magno And Antonio Liotta the graphic novel Julian Assange. From hacker ethics to Wikileaks.
«This event – said the city councilor Vincenzo Capellupo – proved to be a real relaunch for the city, attracting thousands of people who visited and participated in the workshops, gatherings and exhibitions. It was a real success, which demonstrated Catanzaro’s ability to welcome and offer unique and unprecedented experiences to its visitors.”
«I want to express my compliments – he concluded – to the organisers, the artistic director and the Municipal Administration and in particular to the Councilor for Culture Donatella Monteverdi, for having believed in the project and for having successfully completed it. This event demonstrated that Catanzaro can be a place of culture and entertainment, and that it can attract visitors from outside the city.” (rcz)
