Conofest International Short Film Festival closes its first edition

The festival of short films written and/or directed by women has closed its first edition by exhibiting the work of 18 creators.

Conofest International Short Film Festival, the first Spanish short film festival directed and/or written by women, directed by Vicka Duran and held from December 17 to 21, it closes its first edition with more than 200 spectators from all over the world.

The programming has been able to be seen online all over the world, while the parallel activities, broadcast in streaming on the Facebook channel, via Zoom, have achieved a total of more than 1,500 views.

For five days, the festival has managed to enter the homes of all continents to become a leading platform for exhibition, training, support and dissemination of women filmmakers and their work within the film sector and the world of short films.

"Our main objective is to give visibility to these 18 audiovisual creators and their work, and to all those who will come. At the same time, we are going to offer our entire audience and followers annual and continuous activities so that they can continue training. We want to get closer to real equity and parity and that is why we are launching headlong into this first edition of the CONOFEST – International (Short) Film Festival," explains the director of the festival, Vicka Duran.

Likewise, and keeping in mind the values ​​of empathy, equity, tolerance, trust and commitment, “we have selected 15 films from all continents so that the public could enjoy moving, authentic, original stories that attracted attention for their sensitivity and creativity.”

Animation, fiction, documentary and experimental cinema have been the proposals of this first edition, which have included 3 premieres at the state level, Period, by director Danissa Angulo, GNT de Sara Hirner & Rosemary Vásquez-Brown y Fatiya by Marion Dessigne.

Likewise, the festival has included the names of veteran directors such as Carlota Pereda y Carla Simon (winners of Goya Awards), but as Vicka Duran points out “we have created opportunities so that the works of new creators could be exhibited and made known.”

Parallel activities

In addition to the film programming, within the framework of the Conofest International (Short) Film Festival they have had a series of parallel activities. On the one hand, the channel Youtube Conofest Interviews, has offered interviews, lasting 15 minutes, with each of the filmmakers participating in this non-competitive festival.

On the other hand, there have been five round tables in which we have sought to establish a dialogue and generate an interesting debate with the public by talking about topics such as the situation of women creators in the cinematography sector - both at an institutional and artistic level -, freedom and creative or professional limitations in the millennial generation, the exploration of new languages ​​and formats, entrepreneurship and the importance of aid from institutions such as ECAM, COOFILM or CIMA, the visibility and dignity of the short film format or the figure of the actress-producer.

In the first meeting, What the hell is Conofest?!, participó la productora de Riot Comedy: Penny Jay G, que fue la encargada de abrir el festival entrevistando a sus creadoras Sara Bamba & Vicka Duran, en una charla jovial y divertida que sorprendió con más de una sonrisa al espectador.

At the second table, Creadoras & millennials moderated by Vicka Duran, the actress and director Ann Perelló, creator of the series, participated 2021 along with Pau Escribano, and also the actresses Candela Antón, co-founder of Contracultural and known for starring in one of the most prominent roles in the series. Merlin, content creator on Twitch and Clara Ingold, actress, screenwriter and musician known for her hilarious, cynical and funny stories on Instagram. The viewer was able to learn first-hand how the new generations enter audiovisual creation from a different scope and prism and how they manage to survive within the industry and culture.

Bárbara Mestanza, Judith Rodríguez and Noralma Reeves in Offroad Actresses They offered an important perspective of the artistic situation in the Ibero-American sphere and have vindicated the concept of artist, to go beyond mere interpretation, and encompass an entire creative process that leads them to also be producers and even scriptwriters of their own works.

Likewise, at the table Get started and learn! contó con mujeres del ámbito de la industria audiovisual como Nieves Maroto, directora de CIMA IMPULSA, Gabriela Garcés, del programa de residencias para mujeres cineastas COOFILM y Gemma Vidal, directora de LA INCUBADORA (ECAM). También contó con la presencia de directoras que han pasado por los procesos de estos proyectos y que pudieron narrar su experiencia: Elena Tara, directora residente de COOFILM y de CIMA IMPULSA; Sara de la Fuente, productora de Cima Impulsa; y Marina Parés, guionista en La Incubadora. La charla fue moderada por Sara Bamba, guionista, directora & productora de Helsinki Films.

Conofest International (Short) Film Festival also wanted to celebrate the shortest day of the year y homenajear a este género por el que ha apostado desde el principio en la mesa “¡Qué corto se me ha hecho el día!”. La mesa estuvo liderada por personalidades destacadas del mundo del cortometraje: Javier Muñiz, director del certamen Internacional de Cortos de la Ciudad de Soria y coordinador de La Mesta, Marta Salvador, productora de Distribution with Glasses, Marga Almirall de la Mostra Internacional de Films de Dones de Barcelona & María Salgado, directora y guionista conocida por su aportación y larga trayectoria en el mundo del cortometraje. La mesa estuvo moderada por la realizadora y periodista Sonia Bautista, coordinadora a su vez de la Plataforma de Nuevos Realizadores.