FICBUEU returns this weekend with the best international short films and a cultural offer more supportive and inclusive
FICBUEUI From this Friday until Saturday 23rd, 89 films from around thirty countries will be screened, and there will be concerts, workshops, talks with filmmakers, live radio podcasts and special programming for children with the MiniFIC
I The Festival reinforces its social commitment with a campaign to collect feminine hygiene products to raise awareness of menstrual poverty and the launch of a children’s playroom to promote family conciliation.
BUEU (PONTEVEDRA). 06.08.2023. The International Film Festival of Bueu, the FICBUEU, is warming up. The short film contest, which every year from O Morrazo shows the new tendencies of cinematographic creation and auteur cinema, returns this Friday with a complete programme that will take place in the Pontevedra’s village until next Saturday 23rd. Its sixteenth edition was presented today at the Peirao do Atilio, in the Paseo da Pescadoría, in a ceremony with the directors of the Festival, Manuel Pena, María Ruiz-Falcó and Nerea Lores, and in which also participated Jacobo Sutil, director of the Axencia Galega das Industrias Culturais (AGADIC); Luís López, president of the Deputación de Pontevedra; and Carmen García, councillor of Culture of Bueu. The three institutions support and make the event possible.
FICBUEU, one of the Galician festivals with the greatest trajectory and impact, brings back the best selection of international short films produced last year. In the Auditorium of the Centro Social do Mar in Bueu –epicentre of the festival’s activities– 89 films from around thirty countries from the five continents will be screened. 28 of them are competing in the «Official Selection» and many have already won awards in recent months at the most important festivals in the world, such as Venice, Cannes, San Sebastian, Berlin, Clermont-Ferrand and Sundance. Galicia will also be very present at the Festival: there are four short films produced or directed in the region in competition in the «Official Selection» and half a dozen more in the space called «GZ_00», dedicated exclusively to Galician creations.
The Festival’s programme also includes talks and master classes with filmmakers and professionals from the audiovisual sector, workshops, concerts, the live broadcasting of five radio podcasts specialising in film, street activities and a special offer for children with the MiniFIC.
Working for the Galician audiovisual industry throughout the year
But if there is one thing that characterises FICBUEU, it is its firm commitment to the continuous promotion of culture. The event is, in fact, the culmination of a work of cultural and film dissemination that takes place throughout the year with activities such as Cinema Circulante –with screenings, talks, musical performances and workshops related to Galician culture and for all audiences–, the screening of short films on the shortest day of the year or the “FICBUEU Residence”, a programme of creation and training that seeks to provide an outlet for screenplay projects and promote the short films of new female and male authors. The first edition will take place from 9 to 15 October on the Illa de Ons and will be tutored by Isabel Peña, scriptwriter of films such as As bestas or El reino.
Commitment to people
Support for values such as equality, integration and respect is another of the key elements of FICBUEU, which makes it a different kind of event marked by its commitment to people. The Festival demonstrates this more than ever in this edition. It will kick off this Friday with the premiere of the short film made in recent months by users of the ITA Verducido with the help of the festival organisers. A children’s toy library will be set up to favour family conciliation, thus becoming the first Galician film festival with this service. And, while FICBUEU lasts, there will be a campaign to collect feminine hygiene products – which will then be donated together with the food delivered to the Fesbal (Spanish Federation of Food Banks) bank in Bueu– with the aim of helping to raise awareness of the menstrual poverty suffered by many women in the world. It is also FICBUEU’s response to the message sent by its audience, who last year awarded a short film with this theme, Spotless, by the Dutch filmmaker Emma Branderhorst.
FICBUEU will also be a reality this year thanks to the support of the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, financed with European Next Generation funds, which joins the event through the Government of Spain’s Digital Kit Programme.
