Blog: Film festivals

FILMETS Badalona Film Festival, is an international short film festival with 50 years of history. It is a reference festival in Catalonia awarded by the Barcelona Provincial Council and is a prescriber of the Goya awards.

Badalona celebrated the first edition of the old festival in 1971, on a biennial basis. The Amateur Cinema Section of the Museum was the entity that organized that international contest with the name 'Badalona World Amateur Cinema' and also held other contests such as Images (for members of the entity), the National Festival of Filmed Song (state wide) and the Religious Film and Human Values Contest (state wide). The entity collaborated with the main amateur film festivals in Catalonia, such as those held in Barcelona (Union of Amateur Filmmakers, the Catalonia Excursionist Center or the Barcelona Photographic Association) and others in Figueras, Terrassa, Valls, Mataró, Manresa, Vilanova i la Geltrú, etc.

These festivals screened films in 8 mm, Super8, Single 8 and 16 mm, where works by amateur filmmakers Tomàs Mallol, Rafael Marcó, Enric Menal, Miquel Esparbé, Jan Baca, Toni Garriga, Tomàs Freixas, Arnal S. Licer, Josep Parra, Enrique Montón, Agustí and Rafel Argelich, Joan Vidal, etc. At the end of the 1980s, a new association was created, with the name of Badalona Independent Filmmakers, which took charge of the new festival, the Badalona International Film and Video Festival, until the end of the 1990s.

In 2001, the Badalona City Council and Badalona Comunicació SA, with the support of historical members of the festival, launched the 27th edition of the new festival, under the name of FILMETS Badalona Film Festival. That new edition had 400 registered short films and 2,000 viewers and was the starting point and the new benchmark for short film festivals in Catalonia.

From then on, FILMETS Badalona Film Festival has been a benchmark not only for the short film festivals with the most international coverage and echo, but it is also a meeting point for filmmakers and, above all, for the most loyal public. Since its recovery, it has had the participation of the main short filmmakers from Catalonia and from the rest of the state and in its twenty-two years of the new stage, true film talents have participated who have subsequently stood out with the production of feature films with worldwide impact.

Some of the directors who have participated in the festival are Álex de la Iglesia, Fernando Trullols, Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza, Kiko Maillo, Judit Colell, Mar Coll, Javier Fesser or Àlex Pastor among others, as well as the participation of prominent international filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Pedro Almodóvar. It has also given way to the new current generations of short filmmakers such as Bill Plympton, JA Bayona, Ari Sandel or Carla Simón, among others. The international jury has been made up of people of recognized prestige in the audiovisual scene such as Manuel Huerga, Josep Maria Forn, Roland Nguyen, Joao García, Ventura Pons, Antoni Verdaguer, Lluís Marco, Roger Coma, Romà Gubern, Florence Keller, Judit Colell, Jaume Figueras, Llorenç Soler, Sílvia Quer, Carles Bosch, Albert Solé and Oriol Sala-Patau, among others. In recent years, professionals from the short film distribution sector have attended, such as Marvin&Wayne, Freak, Kimuak, Catalan Films, Agence du Court Métrage, Nikita Distribution, France TV, RTP, or festival programmers such as Medit, Mecal, Fec Cambrils-Reus , Cittadella di Corto, Biennale di Vicenza, Off Courts Trouville L'Alternativa, My first festival, OH, LA LA!, BCN Sports Film. They have also played an important role in the film schools of Catalonia (ESCAC, Bande à Part, CECC, 9 Zeros, ECIB, FX Animation, EMAV) or the renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany, ESRA, ESMA, Arte FX, Les Gobelins of France USC California, etc.

The festival is also a platform for our filmmakers, since the presence of the festival in the main international markets (WSFF Toronto, Regard Saguenay Quebec, Short Film Corner Cannes, Tous Courts Aix -en-Provence, Off-Courts Trouville, Clermont-Ferrand , BISFF Brussel·les, etc) has made it possible for FILMETS Badalona Film Festival to be a catalyst for the genre, also promoting its own productions. Directors and producers of short films that have subsequently won the Oscar, or Goya, Gaudí, César, Donatello, etc., have attended and participated.

FILMETS Badalona Film Festival has maintained relationships and collaborations with the main festivals in the world since its origins, from the USC of Southern California, the New York Film Institute, the London Film School, among others, but mainly the most important producers and distributors of independent short films (Premium Films, European New Sales, Marvin&Wayne, Freak, Agencia du Cortmétrage, Interfilm Berlin, Kurtz Film Hamburg, Ouat Media, etc.)

In this regard, the festival is active throughout the year and beyond the dates of the celebration it has organized sessions all over the world, with anthological sessions in several European cities. FILMETS develops year after year a pedagogical work of the best cinema, with contents that have been carefully worked on by the programming team. At the same time, members of the organizing committee of the festival have actively participated in different conferences, round tables, professional meetings and as members of the official jury of the festivals: ImagineNative Toronto, WSFF Toronto, Regard Saguenay Quebec, Off-Courts Trouville/Deauville, Très Courts Aix -en-Provence, Short Film Corner Cannes, Huesca International Festival, Docs Barcelona, Cryptshow Badalona, BISFF Busan South Korea, Clermont-Ferrand, etc. On the other hand, they have also participated as speakers or moderators in: Short Film Corner, Clermont-Ferrand, Quebec, Trouville, and in different exhibitions and festivals in Catalonia, as well as a member of the short film commission of the Gaudí Award by the Catalan Cinema Academy.

FILMETS Badalona Film Festival has promoted all over the world not only the festival brand, but also the main short film festivals of Catalunya Film Festivals CFF (founding member).