Cinderella the Cat by Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri and Dario Sansone has won the first edition of Noir in Festival’s Caligari Award. The two runners-up were also called to the stage, Children of the Night by Andrea De Sica and Sicilian Ghost Story by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.

There were actually eight films from the new crop of Italian film noir titles released in 2017 in the running for the new competitive lineup that unfolded under the aegis of IULM and Noir in Festival. It was curated by Gianni Canova with the collaboration of Giorgio Gosetti and the support of the Anteo Palazzo del Cinema and Istituto Luce-Cinecittà.

The winner was selected by a people’s jury made up of university students and film aficionados, under the guidance of screenwriter Salvatore De Mola (Montalbano), together with film critics Paola Casella and Fabio Ferzetti.

"The fact that in the very first year of this prize the jury crowned an animated film," remarked the creators of the award, "one that comes out of the finest Neapolitan tradition, and a perfect example of a genre film, is certainly a marvelous surprise, but it’s just the sign of things to come. Finally Italy has produced a generation of filmmakers unafraid of taking on genre films, and everyone, directors and producers alike, responded enthusiastically to our call for the "magnificent eight" finalists. They included original filmmakers like Maccio Capatonda, successful newcomers to directing like Donato Carrisi, and talented directors with long-standing ties to the noir genre, like the Manetti Bros. The festival and the jury would like to thank one and all for launching a new tradition that will be back next year."

The Caligari Award will be bestowed on the winning film at the Teatro Sociale in Como on the evening of December 9, along with the other film awards for 2017, plus a tribute to filmmaker Claudio Caligari. On hand to receive the award will be Massimiliano Gallo, who voiced the "bad guy" in the story, mobster Salvatore Lo Giusto.