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Victimulion

Northwest Italy, 300 B.C.: the Celtic tribe of Victimulae is stationed in the territories East of the Dora Baltea river.
A lengthy drought has caused disastrous losses in the breeding of cattle, leading to risk of famine. To escape the impending disaster, the Victimulae decide to migrate West, to territories across the river under the dominion of the powerful goddess-queen Ypa. The tribe is willing to submit to Ypa, if she will accept their settlement on her land.
The only passable ford reaching the territories of Ypa's realm is however controlled by the fierce warrior demon Combaromaros, which imposes heavy tributes on anyone who wants to cross the river. The tribe's druid, Acingovepos, after consulting the will of the gods, states that only one chosen warrior will be eligible for establishing the alliance with Queen Ypa. He must journey to the ford and meet Combaromaros to convince him to let his tribe go, knowing that a refusal by the demon would inevitably lead to a clash.
The haruspicy of Acingovepos states that the veteran warrior Taranucnos will have to face the dangerous journey for the salvation of his people.

  • Andry Verga
    Director
  • Stefano Maria Mantello
    Writer
  • Masterblack
    Producer
  • Stefano Maria Mantello, Andrea Gattico, Alessandra Ruffino, Gianluca Calamai, Gianfranco Bongioanni, Luca Fontolan, Vito Galetta.
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Historical, Mythological, Fantasy
  • Runtime:
    25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 19, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director - Andry Verga
Director Statement

Dear Sirs, dear Madames,

It is with a great pleasure that we submit our short movie Victimulion to your Festival.
The film is about a Celtic Iron Age warrior’s journey to face his enemy, a journey which is both physical and intimate, whose outcome should be either the salvation or the extinction of his tribe.
The tribe which we are talking about are the Victimulae, who lived in Northwest Italy presumably from the VI or the V century B.C.
Their culture and their language were totally absorbed by the later Roman colonization, even though some trace of them still survive in the cultural underlayer of the region.
As we know almost nothing about the language they spoke, a pseudo-Victimulian language has been invented on purpose for the film; therefore we can hear them talking a sort of Celtic dialect, which gives a mysterious atmosphere to the movie.
All the frames have been given a “cartoon” effect, in order to put the story in a sort of timeless dimension.
We hope that you will enjoy the movie and we are looking forward to your early response.
Many thanks in advance for your attention.

Kind regards,
Andry Verga & Stefano M. Mantello
(Victimulion’s director & screenwriter)