The Macau International Short Film Festival will take place between December 1 and 8 at the Capitol Theatre, and recently announced its official selection. There will be a total of 129 films and music videos presented across more than 30 screenings of fiction, documentaries, animations and music videos.
“The Macau International Short Film Festival offers film lovers an opportunity to view the world’s most recent fiction, documentary and animation films,” says the event’s director, Lúcia Lemos.
According to the organisers, a total of 4,172 short films and 123 music videos were initially submitted from around the world to be considered for the International ‘Shorts’ and ‘Volume’ competitions in this year’s edition of the festival.
Spain is the country most represented in the official selection of the short film festival, with 13 films. It is followed by Macau (11), France (10), Poland (8), Germany (7), Russia (6), Iran (5), China (4), Portugal (4), Italy (3), Taiwan (3), United Kingdom (3), and also Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Albania, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kosovo, Nepal, Philippines, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam, all with one film in the festival.
The winners of the official selection, chosen by an international jury, will be announced on December 8, with a total prize money of MOP84,000.
“This festival, which is held annually, allows us to spread knowledge of new techniques, share other realities and bring filmmakers and other professionals closer for future partnerships,” Lemos notes.
Every year, the festival has also highlighted the development of female directors in the film industry worldwide. This year, among the 111 films selected, 32 are directed by women.
As well as film screenings, the festival will also host two masterclasses and four guest film sessions entitled ‘Cinema Expanded’. Presenters in the masterclasses are professionals from the film and television industry who will take the opportunity to share their experiences in filmmaking. The target audience includes filmmakers, creative entrepreneurs, audiovisual artists, journalists, film students and enthusiasts.
“‘Cinema Expanded’ opens windows of stories from Asia, incorporating the reality of historical, geographical, social contexts and other topics. The invited films are from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau and Taipei,” comments the organisers.
The event is organised by Creative Macau – Centre for Creative Industries and the Institute of European Studies of Macau (IEEM), with the support of the Cultural Development Fund of the Macao SAR Government. Since 2010, the festival has presented more than 700 films showcasing the evolution of the independent film industry.
https://macauinternationalshortfilmfestival.com