Vele al Ventoby Markus Duffner
Original Title
Vele al Vento
Country
Portugal
Year
2025
Runtime
9'
Type
Short
Production Status
In Production
Genre
Animation
Language
Italian, Portuguese
Video Format
4K DCP (16:9)
Audio Format
5.1
Available Subtitles
English, Portuguese
Sales Agent
Prem1ere Film
Available Territories
Worldwide

Vele al Vento

by Markus Duffner

Europe, early 20th century. Fishermen set sail in sailing boats for journeys lasting more than six months. Through typical everyday situations, we follow an entire day of life aboard these boats, exploring the fishing techniques they had used for over a hundred years, as well as the legends and tales that lulled them on the high seas. In this short film, the paintings by the Italian artist Pirós are brought to life through the techniques of cut-out and 2D animation, merging fantasy and reality.

Cast

Ronaldo Bonacchi – Narrator

Producers

Markus Duffner

Production Company

Spamflix

Animation
Elmano Diogo, Markus Duffner, Leonor Faria Henriques, Francisco Parreira, Pedro Ramalho

Layering
Gordeeff, Cláudio Roberto

VFX
Milton Andrés Cruz

Grading, Rendering and Finalization
Vítor Carvalho

Art

Pirós / @pirosuniverse

Music

Canzone a Manovella – Vinicio Capossela
Midnight Waltz – Litá

Sound Design

SoundForce Studio
Sound Post-Production Coordinator: Margaryta Kulichova
Sound Designer: Johnny Farah
Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Designer: Tarun Madupu

About The Director

Born and raised in Italy to a German family, resides in Portugal since 2016. Markus Duffner graduated in Cinema, TV, and Multimedia Production from the University of Bologna (Italy, Master’s degree) and in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Urbino (Italy). Always passionate about Cut-Out animation, he has completed several DIY projects in this technique.

He began working in the film industry in 2005, gaining experience in market events at festivals such as Venice, Rome, Cannes, Montecarlo Comedy FF, and at the magazine Le Film Français (founded in 1944). Since 2014, he has worked at the Locarno Film Festival, where he currently holds the position of Director of Locarno Pro. In 2017, he founded Spamflix, an independent animation production company (that also operated as Streaming service until 2023).

He co-produced the animated documentary King Khat by Uri Marantz, which was selected for the Tallinn Film Festival in November 2023.

Vele al Vento, is his first animated short, reflecting his passion for Cut-Out animation developed through various DIY projects.

Digital assets