Short film on Isabelle Bonnici's fight for justice wins top festival award
'Martyrion Storia di Isabelle' honoured for turning a personal tragedy into a powerful collective call for justice
Updated 9pm
A short film based on Jean Paul Sofia’s tragic death and his mother Isabelle Bonnici’s fight for justice has won the Best Short Film on Environmental Themes award at the Accordi@Disaccordi International Short Film Festival.
“Martyrion Storia di Isabelle”, directed by Teresa Antignani and Luca Ciriello, was recognised for transforming “an individual tragedy into a powerful collective testimony”.
Now in its 22nd edition, the film festival showcases independent short films, including fiction, documentary, animation and experimental works.
Awarding the prize, the film festival jury praised the film as one that “moves, shakes, and urges us not to remain indifferent in the face of deaths in the workplace and the abuses that scar the land and human life”.
“Through the engaged gaze of art and activism, the story weaves together pain, courage, and justice, restoring dignity to those who were victims and giving a voice to those who refuse to give up,” the jury continued.
Announcing the award on Saturday, Antignani said she and her co-director Luca Ciriello “could not be happier to continue bringing the story of Jean Paul Sofia and Isabelle Bonnici to as many people as possible”.
“For justice. For those killed at work. So that it never happens again,” she added.
Reacting to the news, Isabelle Bonnici said she was "incredibly proud that this short film, created from the pain of my fight for justice, has been recognised with such an important award."
"This is not about me—it is about my son, whose name will never be forgotten, and about all the victims of the construction industry who deserve justice and remembrance. Jean Paul's name will live on and so will our fight for justice and safer construction sites for all," she continued.
First screened in Italy during the Sanita’ Film Festival in July, the film forms part of a wider performative and photographic project denouncing territorial abuses that Antignani has been working on since 2020.
The film documents Bonnici’s fight for justice and the public inquiry that followed the death of her son Jean Paul Sofia at a construction site in December 2022. It features Bonnici herself alongside Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus, Joseph Debono, photographer Sara Terracciano, and Antignani.
The film has already received a special mention at the 35mm Milan Film Festival