The ceremony highlighted the recognition of the people who make its celebration possible, remembering Gemma Catalán, one of the volunteers who have collaborated since the first edition, who recently passed away.
The 9th Mequinenza International Film Festival (MIFF) kicked off with the screening of its first section, featuring the short films vying for the "Silucam" award for best animated short. The opening ceremony was held beforehand, with the participation of director Javi Rodes, Councilor for Culture Darío Vidallet, and Mayor of Mequinenza Antonio Sanjuán.
An event in which they wanted to make very clear "the recognition of the work of each and every one of the people who make possible the celebration, since the first edition, of this Contest which is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary" Sanjuán pointed out, and specifically in memory of Gemma Catalán, one of the volunteers who have collaborated since the first edition, who recently passed away.
Vidallet emphasized this recognition and expressed his gratitude to the teams responsible for the short films that can be seen in the Sala Goya until Sunday, some of whom will be present, and to the public attending the Festival, especially "on this first day, the youngest ones, to whom we dedicate this animation section to try to awaken their interest in cinema."
Finally, Javier Rodes, who echoed these sentiments, acknowledged that “organizing a festival is no easy task” and expressed his satisfaction with the impact MIFF is having, both through the media attention it generates and with the goal of “making Mequinenza a film location and not just a film festival venue.” In fact, location scouts from Netflix series have visited the town, interested in exploring locations, and the Mequinenza Mining Museum has once again hosted a film shoot, this time for a documentary.
The Mequinenza International Film Festival will run until Sunday, September 1st, and will close with a silent film session featuring live music by the Zaragoza-based Ensemble Al Inte, who will accompany three films by Charles Chaplin: “The Adventurer (Charlot escapes)” from 1917, “The Vagabond (Charlot, traveling musician)” from 1916 and “The Cure (Charlot at the Spa)” also from 1917.
Between Friday and Saturday, when the closing ceremony and awards presentation will take place, the finalist short films from the Cinca, Segre, “Río Bravo” (dedicated to Westerns), Aragonese Panorama, and Ebro sections will be screened. Twenty-six short films from twelve countries, selected from the 3.151 submitted to the competition, will vie for one of the six “Silucams”—the festival's statuettes, half catfish, half film projector—for best fiction, best documentary, best animation, best Aragonese short film, best Western, and the “Antonio Blas” award, chosen by the audience.
