Blog: Film festivals

Cinema is probably one of the simplest and most comprehensive forms of communication in existence. After several film-related initiatives, Sciaena, an ocean conservation NGO, has decided to develop its own festival format to make it more dynamic, better adapted to Portuguese realitiy and one of the association's many regular initiatives.

Thus came the Scianema, whose main event is a festival where it’s screened a selection of documentaries dedicated to the oceans and their conservation, held every year between February and March in Faro.

But Scianema aims to be much more than that. Based on past experience, we want to show across the country and to a diverse audience, ocean-based documentaries to encourage, inspire, raise awareness and promote their open access not only to specialists but above all to the general public.
Scianema aims to facilitate scientific communication about the marine world by promoting open discussion, creating an opportunity for researchers, students, filmmakers and others interested in film and media to jointly enjoy and discuss issues about the sea, to let their imagination run wild. The oceans have a voice and it's of all of us!

This year, at the 5th edition of the Scianema Film Festival, we decided for the first time that in addition to presenting the films chosen by the organization, it will also open the opportunity for everyone to submit short films dedicated to the oceans – their fascinations, the threats they face and as we all can and must protect.

All productions must be in Portuguese or subtitled in Portuguese or English and have a maximum of 15 minutes. All national and foreign citizens may participate.