The Uruguayan Film School (ECU) and Cinemateca Uruguaya are happy to announce the official short films selection for the 20th International Film Schools Festival (FIEC) to be held from 20 to 22 August 2020 in an exceptional online edition. This year’s edition is being held as part of ECU’s 25th anniversary.
It is a representative showcase of the many styles, visions, concerns and production workflows developed in the main film schools in the world. The selection includes 65 fiction, documentary and animation short films made by students from 48 film schools in 26 countries, including Uruguay. Gender parity is almost attained: there are 38 males and 36 females among the filmmakers.
Because of the current COVID-19 health emergency that keeps movie theaters closed without a re-opening date, this year’s Festival will be exceptionally held online. We will surely miss the meetings, the big screen exhibitions (even more with the quality and warmth of the new Cinemateca) and the applause from the audience after every short is displayed. However, at the same time this approach opens a new and double opportunity: to make the festival’s programme available to everyone around the world and -also for the first time- carry out an International Film Students’ Meeting, where they can exchange ideas, reflections and different experiences of training and audiovisual production. This meeting will be held via Zoom platform in parallel to the Festival’s exhibitions (which will take plance in our YouTube channel) and with the participation of the selected filmmakers. It will be open to film and audiovisual students from all over the world with Spanish and English as the official languages (simultaneous translation will be available). We'll send you all the details in another email next week.
We will, of course, maintain the tradition of rewarding the best short films in each category: fiction, documentary, animation, best Iberoamerican short film (selected by the Professional Jury) and best Uruguayan short film (Musitelli & La Mayor Award from the Professional Jury and the Faciuni Award from the Students Jury).
This year’s Professional Jury will be integrated by María Dora Mourão (editor and teacher, Brazil), Mariana Viñoles (documentary filmmaker, Uruguay) and Matías Ganz (director and screenwriter, Uruguay). The Students Jury will consist of Florencia Traversa (Catholic University of Uruguay), Guillermo Lanzani (Faculty of Information and Communication of the University of the Republic) and Sofía Borges (Uruguayan Film School).
The Festival’s audience will also award their own prizes for the best international and Uruguayan short film, through online vote. The Festival will award around 8000 US Dollars in prizes.
We are very happy to have a high quality selection like this, thanks to you all. Please find attached the official selection list and the official selection press release in English.
This new Festival’s edition is possible thanks to the support of Montevideo City Hall (IM) through Montevideo Audiovisual, Musitelli, La Mayor, Final Draft, Montevideo Portal, La Diaria, TV Ciudad, TNU, CILECT, FEISAL and the exclusive sponsorship of DirecTV Faciuni Scholarships.
You can follow all the Festival updates through our social networks and at www.ecu.edu.uy.