Le variabili dipendenti (The Dependent Variables), the short directed by Lorenzo Tardella and produced by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, is currently on the AMPAS’ screening room and can now be voted by all Academy members to get through to the next phase. The voting takes place from December 14 to 18, 2023.

Tardella’s short world premiered at the 72^nd Berlin Film Festival, which launched its international career. Le variabili dipendenti was then selected in over 60 film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival, the Raindance Film Festival, and the prestigious Visioni Italiane at the Cineteca di Bologna. In May this year, the short won Best Short Film at the David di Donatello Awards. Moreover, it was shortlisted for the Silver Ribbons.

Le variabili dipendenti is currently available on the streaming platform MUBI.

Synopsis
When does childhood end? What does intimacy really mean? Pietro and Tommaso are in their early teens. They meet in a theatre box while Vivaldi’s notes resound around them. It’s a first kiss. Should it be something else? That same afternoon, surrounded by the silence of the home walls, they will try and find out.

Director’s statement
We always get to the moment when we stop gazing at ourselves in the mirror and begin to look outward. What we cannot imagine, the first time that we do, is how difficult it is to find our eyes in those of the person in front of us. To be the same thing. To recognize ourselves in the mirror. This is what Le variabili dipendenti is about: the first confrontation with intimacy, at a time of life in which there are no rules, and all certainties can instantly collapse.

Lorenzo Tardella bio
Born in Narni in 1992. After studying at Roma Tre University, he began his studies in directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome in 2019. His short films Edo, Quello che resta, and A fior di pelle have been selected in several Italian and international festivals. The Dependent Variables, his CSC thesis film, was presented in competition at the 72^nd Berlinale, the only Italian short film. From Berlin its international career took off, taking it to the BFI London Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival among others. The film won the 2023 David di Donatello award for best short and was shortlisted for the Silver Ribbons. In 2023, Lorenzo Tardella was chosen to participate in the 21^st Berlinale Talents, the Berlin Film Festival's in-house development lab.

"Le variabili dipendenti" di Lorenzo Tardella