We are hereby publishing a joint statement from the distributors and producers of a film in the PÖFF Shorts programme.

PÖFF Shorts in its recent edition (15-23 November 2022) screened in its children's animation competition programme the film 'Away from Home - dir. Brunella De Cola'. Based on the correspondence with the film's distributors and submitters, Zen Movie /Tiny Distribution (full statement below), the Festival has decided to remove any film mentions from its online presence etc., out of deep concerns regarding potential violations of its festival regulations.

The statement follows:

This joint statement is signed by Zen Movie and A Little Confidence, respectively as Distributor and “Producer”/Agent of the animated short film “Away from Home”. Zen Movie and A Little Confidence first and foremost express their absolute extraneousness and profound surprise about what they have acknowledged on November 28th 2022 regarding the dispute over the
right’s ownership of the short film, raised by a third party.

On April 19th 2022 Ms. Brunella De Cola provided the Agent with the short film which was already complete, fully realized in all of its parts, giving full guarantees that she was its producer, author and director, while only later did the Agent propose to Zen Movie to take care of the festival career of the short film; Zen Movie, after watching the short film, accepted such assignment and located the work in its catalogue called “Tiny Distribution”.

In specifying that Ms. Brunella De Cola is still affirming herself as the owner of the rights of the film, the undersigned, given the adverse revindications, have decided to immediately stop the distribution of the short film and to withdraw all the submissions already made to festivals.

The undersigned, insofar as it is within their respective competences, will adopt, in every area of their activity, the most appropriate solutions in order to shed light on the effective chain of rights of the short film and, if necessary, will take any further action aimed at protecting their interests and professional reputation.

Willing to restore the trust in the professional activity that we carry on with seriousness and love, we send the best regards.

Rome, December 5th 2022

PDF version of the signed statement can be accessed here.