Significant international success has rewarded the 3 films of the first edition (2012-2013) of the Biennale College – Cinema, the brand-new higher-education training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget feature-length films, open to emerging film directors and producers from around the world, organized by the Biennale di Venezia with the sponsorship of Gucci:

· Memphis (USA) by Tim Sutton (director), produced by John Baker , was selected for the Sundance Film Festival 2014 in the NEXT <=> section, dedicated to the new generation of bolder and more experimental independent American filmmakers;
· Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (Thailand) by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director), produced by Aditya Assarat, won the Best Asian Film award (Netpac Competition) at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival; it was presented at the Busan International Film Festival, at the Festival Internacional de Cine Valdivia (in Competition), at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and at the Torino Film Festival. It received excellent reviews, culminating in the review by Richard Kuipers in “Variety” (November 1st, 2013). It will be released in Thai movie theatres on November 28th 2013;
· Yuri Esposito (Italy) by Alessio Fava (director), produced by Max Chicco, was presented at the Stockholm Film Festival and at the Torino Film Festival. It received excellent reviews, culminating in the review by Richard Corliss in “TIME Magazine online” (September 6th, 2013).

The 3 feature-length films were developed and produced at low cost by the Biennale College – Cinema which offered a contribution of € 150,000. They were presented in their world premiere screening at the 70th Venice Film Festival 2013 and were also screened online on the Sala Web, the virtual theatre that exists alongside the traditional theatres for the screenings on the Lido.