-
The town will hold its renowned festival from 8 to 17 August with the screening of feature and short films, and will once again be putting on various parallel activities
Calzada de Calatrava, 24 January 2024. XI Calzada de Calatrava International Film Festival, to be held from 8 to 17 August, has once again turned on the cameras to kick off its new edition with a “high level of expectation”, which it hopes will have as much impact as last year’s tenth anniversary celebration. With the start of this eleventh edition, the period is therefore open for young producers, production companies, filmmakers and directors to submit their short filmsfilms and feature films on the Festhome or Movibeta platforms before 15 May, which is the deadline set as the last day to submit their cinematographic works.
The jury, appointed by the organisation itself, will publish from 15 June the works that will finally compete for the different awards and which will be screened during the festival. Lovers of the seventh art have already set Thursday 8 August as a date not to be missed, because it will kick off with some great surprises on stage. Another of the most emotional dates will come on 17 August with the closing ceremony at the Rafael Serrano Cultural Centre in the town, which will feature a great evening and staging.
.
In addition, as usual, the festival is already working on the organisation of different parallel activities that will be held simultaneously and which have been so well received all these years. Work is also being done on the poster for this eleventh edition, as well as the final designation of the figure who will be honoured in Calzadena
.
The Mayor of Calzada de Calatrava, Gema García, has shown her “enormous excitement and satisfaction for kicking off the festival” and has remarked that “during all these months leading up to its celebration we will work tirelessly to enjoy an edition as wonderful and successful as last year’s”. Furthermore, the mayoress stressed that Calzada de Calatrava “will continue to support cinema and, in short, culture” because “it is the richest heritage we have and we cannot allow it to be lost”. Finally, Gema García has announced that “in this eleventh edition we will have big surprises and many parallel activities that will make our festival even bigger”.
XI Calzada de Calatrava International Film Festival and Councillor for Culture of the Calzada de Calatrava Town Council, José Antonio Valencia Camacho, points out that “there is a great expectation thanks to the route we have managed to mark during these last years, especially with a spectacular tenth edition that has crossed borders to reach more than fifty countries”. This means that “we are looking forward to seeing all the short and feature films submitted for this new 2024 edition, in which I have no doubt that the jury will have a difficult task ahead of them, given the high quality of the works, as has been the case every year”.
.
Valencia Camachoencourages and invites “producers, production companies, directors and filmmakers from all over the world to send us their works because, it is thanks to the magnificent works that are presented, whether feature films or short films, and which we then have the pleasure of screening in our town, that the Calzada de Calatrava International Film Festival has reached its current level and has the prestige and maturity that comes from having already surpassed ten editions”.
The short filmswill be divided in this eleventh edition intofour categoriesdifferent; ‘Documentary’, ‘Humorous Fiction’, ‘Hipparchy’ and ‘Made in Castilla-La Mancha’. The themesare maintained as before, with ‘Hiparquia’, a section that is related to gender violence, feminism and equality, as well as the achievements of women in the fight for their rights. The Festival is also once again committed to productions made in the territory of Castilla-La Mancha, where the filmmakers must be natural or residentin the region or have used locations in our autonomous community. As for Documentary and Fiction the same guidelines are maintained, where in the latter the short films have to be presented in a humorous tone corresponding their form of expression with the characteristics of comic and/or comedy cinema.
Short films must have a maximum duration of 15 minutes, credits included, and must be made or produced after 1 January 2023. It is also imperative that they have not been commercially released in public cinemas, DVD, video or television in Spain, as well as not having been presented in previous editions of this festival. Short films can be submitted in any language, as long as the competition version is subtitled in Spanish. The works may be entered in any of the official categories created for the occasion and it would be the festival itself who could relocate them (as long as it meets the requirements) in the event that the entry had been placed in a category that does not correspond.
length films, with a minimum duration of 60 minutes, the festival opens its doors to young filmmakers from all over the world up to 35 years of age and with no limit to the number of works they can make. Filmmakers from all over the world, aged 36 and over, can also participate with no age limit, but with a maximum of three feature films in their film career. The works are free of subject matter, but documentaries are not allowed. Moreover, it is important to highlight that the feature films have to be produced after January 1st, 2023, that they have not been commercially released in public cinemas, DVD, Video, television, audiovisual event, VOD (video on demand) in Spain and that they have not been presented in previous editions of the Calzada de Calatrava International Film Festival.
It should be noted that the Festival will award different prizes in the feature film category, where jury and audience, independently, will award the best film, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay, best soundtrack and the audience award for best film. And in this festival, the spectator always has a lot to say.
From the Calzada de Calatrava International Film Festival, they encourage lovers of the seventh art and film fans to follow the official social networks of the festival itself to keep up to date with news, novelties and the programme, which will be presented in the coming months. The festival’s website will also communicate news concerning this celebration of the seventh art.