These days I am already starting to design the festival strategy for the latest graduation short films from ECAM. These shorts began filming in February and are all now in the final phase of post-production.
The first consideration we must take into account is the national premiere, which we safeguard throughout this year, and the dates we find ourselves in: June 2016.
Based on the calendar, the main Spanish festivals we encounter are Seminci, Gijón, and Sitges; all of them have open calls now, these dates being one of the best times to start the distribution of a short film.
Let’s look at their different sections and which ones require a premiere:
- Valladolid International Film Week – Seminci, the registration deadline is June 30 and it is held from October 22 to 29. Spanish short films can participate in:
- The Official Section, where they compete with the rest of the international shorts. Few Spanish shorts are usually selected in this section, but they are eligible for the European Film Academy EFA Award and the Golden and Silver Spikes, which carry prizes of €6,000 and €3,000 respectively.
- The Meeting Point Section, where Spanish Short Film Night takes place; only premiere Spanish short films participate in this section, and it features a prize of €3,000.
- The Castilla y León Section; this is the only section that does not require a national premiere, therefore, we do not consider it in a strict premiere strategy as we can participate in the following edition. However, only short films whose director was born or resides in Castilla y León, or those filmed in this Autonomous Community, can participate.
To register, you can send a viewing link along with the PDF registration form to the address festvalladolid@seminci.com.
- Gijón International Film Festival, whose celebration and registration dates are somewhat later. Short films can be registered until September 20 and it is held from November 19 to 26, 2016.
- Official Section, where short films under 30 min. that have not been premiered in Spain can participate. In this case, several Spanish short films are indeed selected—last year there were 6 shorts. The Príncipe de Asturias Award for Best Short Film carries a prize of €6,000 and is a pre-qualifier for the Oscars, and the Young Jury Award has a prize of €3,000.
- Spanish Short Film Night; unlike Seminci, this is a non-competitive section featuring a selection of the best of the Spanish short film scene in 2016; they do not need to be premieres.
- D’Asturies Section, which has a competitive selection and another out of competition. The registration deadline is usually later; in 2015 it was October 9 (the call for entries is still pending). We must take this section into account for our premiere strategy. It has a prize of €4,000 and, as with Seminci, only directors or producers born or residing in Asturias, or short films shot in this Community, can participate.
To register, you can use the platforms Festhome, Movibeta, or send a DVD. These are the rules in PDF.
In the case of fantasy genre short films, we must consider the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia 2016, which is held from October 7 to 16:
- Official Fantàstic Section, which must be unreleased in Spain, and whose award qualifies for the Oscars.
- Noves Visions One / Plus Section, also unreleased and, according to the rules, with an “experimental or avant-garde orientation.”
- Anima’t Section; this section only requires a regional premiere, meaning all animation short films that are unreleased in Catalonia can participate. The award in this section also counts toward the Oscars.
- Nova Autoria Section, only for short films from Catalan film schools; in our case, we do not take it into account in this initial strategy.
- Brigadoon Section is the only section for short films that are not unreleased in Spain, so initially we are not considering it for this year, but rather for the next edition. We must keep in mind that short films exhibited on the internet cannot participate.
In addition to the Oscars, the Sitges Festival qualifies for the Méliès d’Argent Awards for fantastic cinema. Short film registration costs €10 until July 31, and must be done via Festhome. At this link you can download the full rules.
In these three festivals, the Official Section is a pre-qualifier for the Goya Awards.
In the event that we carry out a premiere strategy and bet on one of these festivals, we must be very patient, as it will take time to know if we are selected. For example, for the selection in Gijón we will have to wait until October, no less than six months from now.