"God Will Not Be There" Triumphs at the Milan Film Fest: Double Award for the IULMovie LAB Short Film

A new award adds to the list of accolades for IULMovie LAB’s original creative productions. At the latest edition of the Milano Film Fest, within the Academy section curated by Vertigo Film Fest, *God Will Not Be There*, a short film directed by IULM graduates Stefano Spolti and Feliciana Rosa, won both the Best Short Film award and the Student Jury Prize, awarded by a jury of students from various schools across the city.

The two directors, who received their awards from actress Celeste Dalla Porta, told the audience about the creative and production journey that took them all the way to India, where the short film was shot under the supervision of professor Giuseppe Carrieri while Spolti and Rosa were still students in the Master’s program in Television, Cinema, and New Media.

Set in a remote village in India, *God Will Not Be There* begins in a land parched by drought, where all hope seems to have faded. According to an ancient ritual, a deity must choose a child in whom to incarnate, to bring back the rain and save the community. When the child’s name is announced amid the sound of drums and the scent of incense, the village gathers around him, filled with faith and anticipation. But what happens if that child doesn’t want to be God?

The short film is currently available on Rai Cinema Channel as part of “Studenti in Corto”—a platform for the talents of the future— the project through which Rai Cinema, on the occasion of World Creativity and Innovation Day, has chosen to showcase a selection of works created by students from some of Italy’s leading universities and film schools, building a direct bridge between academic education and the audiovisual industry.

The success of *God Will Not Be There* comes at a particularly significant moment for IULMovie LAB. Two other original productions inspired by the 2025 “Word of the Year,” “Strategy,” have in fact been selected for their world premiere in the international short film competition at the Ischia Film Festival: *The Something by Silvio Cuomo, set on the border between Romania and Ukraine, and *Il Digiunatore* by Federico Brullo and Luigi Timpano, filmed in Varanasi, India.

Also in competition at the Ischia Film Festival will be two IULMovie LAB productions directed by IULM graduates: *The Drowned* by Alessandro Reato and Davide Negri, filmed in Hong Kong, and *Comet in Coma, an animated short set against a war backdrop reminiscent of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, directed by Carlo Puoti and Margherita Pizza.

Rounding out this lineup is *’ENNA*, an eco-environmental short film shot in Sardinia by Emanuele Prestileo.

While awaiting the new original productions that will be created with the current classes, IULMovie LAB reaffirms the value of an educational and production model developed within the University, in close collaboration with the Master’s Degree program in Television, Cinema, and New Media: from training to screenwriting, from directing to the actual distribution of works at festivals, on professional channels, and in the most vibrant spaces of contemporary cinema.