After the last edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Évora International Short Film Festival (FIKE) honored Cuba as a guest country by including an exhibition from the Jepara International Film Festival in its programme.
in the words of Rebel youthSergio Benvenuto Solas, programmer of the FIC Gibara International Film Festival and the official jury of Corto International Évora, explained the importance of this opportunity: “It was very interesting for us because it was a rare opportunity to screen Cuban short films at an international festival. FIKE has reached its twentieth anniversary at the same time that Humberto Solás’ manifesto for poor cinema, launched in 2001 in Madrid, is twenty years old.
The Antilles Fair showcased winning materials from the latest editions of FIC Gibara 2018 and 2019. “It has curated five short films of different themes and genres. The idea was to show the contemporary Cuban panorama,” emphasized Benvenuto Solas.
Among the expected audio-visual material, the highlights were cemetery that lights up, By Luis Alejandro Yero, winner of the Best Documentary Award at FIC Gibara 2019, and the mountain, by Claudia Claremy, Special mention to the FIC Gibara 2018 Documentary Short Film Jury.
Cuban films were also shown the two princesWritten by Emilie Cruz and Adanui Lima; 24 hoursby Carlos Barba Salva and Bad little thingsby Victor Alfonso.
In connection with the festival competition, it was awarded beyond todayby Marta Swiatek (Poland) as Best Fiction; ecore, directed by Samuel Patthey e Silvain Monney (Switzerland), won Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary Film in the category son of the streetsWritten by Muhammad Al-Mughni (Poland – Lebanon).
As in previous versions, the audience award was given, which was voted on by the spectators present in the rooms. This time the prize went to SpeciesWritten by Monica Martins Nunes (Portugal-Germany).
For FIKE 2021, 43 films were selected from among the 3,116 films received. The certified audiovisual material came from a variety of countries such as Portugal, Switzerland, Jordan, UK, Italy, Taiwan, France, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Peru, Spain, Belarus, Poland, Korea, India, Israel, Canada, Federation, Russia and Brazil.
In addition to Sergio Benvenuto Solas (Cuba), the competition jury was made up of producer Carla Osorio (Brazil), filmmakers Vitor Moreira and Ana da Palma (Portugal), and director of the Kiev International Film Festival, Kirillo Marikutsa (Ukraine).
In parallel with FIKE 2021, other activities such as workshops, exhibitions, concerts and discussions have been developed. They also have initiatives from associated festivals, such as the Kiev International Film Festival (Ukraine), the African Film Festival (Spain) and Cinemazónia (Brazil).
Founded in 2001, during this edition FIKE received support from the Institute of Film and Audiovisual Audiovisual, the International Community for Culture of Central Alentejo, the Regional Directorate for Culture of the Alentejo and the University of Évora in Portugal.
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