The fourth edition of the FICX Pro programme for professionals ended last Friday, November 27, after five days of online activities. Among them, round tables and presentations of projects in development framed in the PUSH PLAY session and the new FICX Pro initiative | LAB.
In order to promote the financing and distribution of productions in the development phase, FICX organized the fourth edition of the PUSH PLAY Work-in-progress Session, in which 6 feature films of Spanish production were presented and held individual meetings with international professionals.
The jury of the session, composed of Christophe Mercier, delegate of the Cannes Directors' Fortnight for the USA and the United Kingdom; Catherine Bizern, Director of the Cinéma du Réel Festival; and David Epiney, Producer at Alina Film, has decided to award the DCP DELUXE -PUSH PLAY Work-in-Progressal prize to the project Destello bravío, directed by Ainhoa Rodríguez and produced by Tentación Cabiria and Eddie Saeta, consisting of the DCP mastering of the film, valued at 6.000€.
La mala familia, directed by Nacho A. Villar & Luis Rojo (BRBR), produced by TASIO / BRBR &Blur, was the project selected for the OpenECAM Work-in-Progress Award.
In this fourth edition of the PUSH PLAY Work-in-Progress session also featured Muyeres (Film Cutting and Making), O auto das ánimas (Diana Toucedo Films), MagalufGhost Town (BoogalooFilms) and Shootingfor Mirza (Dynamite Films).
The jurors and experts of the session have participated in the programme for professionals FICX Pro thanks to the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE) in the category of Visitors.
This year, as a novelty, the Festival wanted to contribute to the development of new works by filmmakers from the region through the FICX Pro | LAB initiative, aimed at promoting young talent, the development of works with artistic value and the dynamisation of creativity within the Asturian audiovisual sector.
The jury for this first edition of FICX Pro | LAB was made up of Elisa Cepedal, director and editor; Agustina Lumi, producer at NATIVA Contenidos and consultant in distribution and audience generation; and Ángeles Huerta, director and scriptwriter.
The Asturias Paraíso Natural Film Commission, through the FICX, will grant an incentive consisting of 1,000 euros to support the realization of the project chosen by the jury Manual de la siega, by Samuel Fernandi, "for its experimental will, the rescue of the gesture of manual work and its deep connection with the immaterial culture of the region".
Likewise, Sin voz, by Ana Izarzugaza, will receive the ECAM Work-in-Progress Open Award "for portraying the contrast between the avant-garde and tradition, daring to tackle the culture of the margins and making non-hegemonic forms of communication visible".
The prize consists of the possibility of using all the means available to ECAM free of charge (sets, materials, studios, technical equipment, etc.) provided that they are available, as established by ECAM, and provided that they are used for the recording and/or editing (post-production) of the award-winning author's work presented as a project.
Also presented within this programme were the projects Gritar, by Diego Garot; Mapa de la geografía emocional, by Julu Martínez, Candela Megido and Alexandra Brancovêan; Ruta Norte, by Raúl García; and Urriellu, by Pablo Casanueva.
In addition, the Filmarket Hub online platform will give the representatives of the selected works the opportunity to enjoy 6 months of Premium subscription in its online market, which has more than 25,000 users from all over Europe and Latin America, and whose objective is to connect projects with producers, TV executives, sales agents and distributors.
The International Festival of Gijón/Xixón concludes today its 58th edition, held online because of the health situation resulting from the pandemic, with a list of awards whose reading has been broadcast live at 12.00 by FICX.TV and has included the FICX Pro awards.