On October 10th, 2026, at the Teatro Sant’Antonio in Scandriglia, RI, the second edition of the Scandriglia Film Festival was held. The Film festival in the province of Rieti was conceived and launched by Skip Shea and by the Shawna Foundation (Boston, Massachusetts, USA).
The Scandriglia Film Festival evaluates and awards short films from one to twenty minutes long, in any language with subtitles in Italian or English assessing the following genres horror, fantasy, animation, documentary and short feature film. The event is dedicated to Massimiliano Scacchi, a creative and visionary from Scandriglia. And the statuette of the even’s prize is a human figure symbolically endowed with wings entitled “Max Spirit Award”.
In addition to this festival, Skip Shea and the Shawna Foundation also organize other film festivals around the world such as the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival (MassIFF) which evaluates and awards not only short and full length films, but also independent scripts and the Shawna Shea Film Festival which supports women filmmakers with scholarships in memory of Shawna Shea, daughter of Skip who tragically passed away at sixteen years old.
The Shawna Foundation is chaired by Anna Chinappi, Skip Shea is its executive director. Skip is an independent film director making courageous and not easy choices. He is nominated for an Emmy as a producer of the “Beacon Hill” TV series and is famous as director of the independent feature films “Trinity”, “Seeds” and “Florence”. All these projects have had prestigious international awards at festivals worldwide.
That is why, even submitting to the Scandriglia Festival the short film “Esoteric Crime” which ironically depicts the phenomenon of freemasonry, director Gianfranco Tomei is not only noticed, but wins the Special Prize (the aforementioned Max Spirit Award, the high spirit of a visionary creative).
Receiving the Award, Gianfranco Tomei thanked the organizers of the Festival (in addition to Anna and Skip, Stefania and Edoardo who supported the Shawna Foundation providing communications and public relations with the institutions) and the authorities of the city.
The interpreter of the role of the Great Sovereign in “Esoteric Crime” Olga Matsyna spoke of a queen who brought freemasonry to Italy in the eighteenth century. She was Marie Caroline of Habsburg-Lorraine, a Viennese lady who married Charles of Bourbon in Naples and supported freemasonry (as she appreciated its progressive sides) until the French Revolution and the guillotine of Marie Antoinette, a queen who had been her sister.
Few invented elements, therefore. On the contrary, historical and modern truths, unknown to most and also very uncomfortable, mark the short film “Esoteric Crime”. And, maybe, it is just the reason why, in a place free from prejudice, independent and in search of uncomfortable truths, the work of Gianfranco Tomei is appreciated and awarded.
A part of the film’s cast, special effects author Graziano Mou and the Press office head Maddalena Caccavale Menza are sharing the well-deserved award with Gianfranco Tomei.
We wish this winning team further achievements with new films still to be shot, promoted and distributed.
Long live Cinema!
Olga Matsyna
