GEA Film Festival
Barcelona, Spain
GEA Film Fest is a short film world festival that takes place in various cities around the world simultaneously, with the goal of having better and more democratic spaces for viewing and debating over contemporary audiovisual matters, bringing the productions closer to the audience in non-conventional venues and giving an active voice to the spectators, that have the opportunity to select the works they like the most with a system similar to the qualifying rounds of the Soccer World Cup.
For the festival, a group of “coaches” will select 24 independent short films from all over the world, aiming to benefit the thematic and aesthetic diversity in order to make the audience visualize the largest possible spectrum of audiovisual creations. Short films that frequently have their participation restricted in other traditional spaces, find a window for their exhibition in GEA Film Fest.
Along with the 24 selected short films, GEA Film Fest will also take into account other audiovisual works in the non-competitive sections of the festival. All short films will be exhibited in alternative venues that run away from the stiffness of traditional exhibition venues. GEA Film Fest connects the relaxed ambient from bars and/or other alternative venues with the cinematographic screening, creating an atmosphere for real non-academic debate about the viewed productions, promoting this way, the birth of new cinematographic cultures.
With the union of this three-axis of thinking, to give visibility to short films from all the world outside of the official screening circuit, to break with the stiffness of the traditional exhibition venues and to promote the interaction and the active voice of the audience, the concept GEA Film Fest is born.
GEA Film Fest is inspired by the qualifying systems of the Soccer World Cup, classifying short films in groups, with the winners getting to the final. The trophy offered to the winners is the Gea cup, a figure of the Goddess Gea (Gaia) holding the Earth, and the logo is inspired by the Olympic games. The main idea of the festival is to be a popular event, for all audiences and with a relaxed nature.