The short film "Los sin voz", made by the Capellanía de Yágabo School of Infant and Primary Education in Arrecife, has reached the final of the fourth edition of Cinedfest. The work of the Lanzarote center has been selected as one of the 48 finalist films of the Educational Film Festival, out of the 311 audiovisual pieces filmed by Canarian centers. In addition, the festival has generated a flood of short films shot by 32 Spanish provinces.
The winners will be announced on June 22, at a gala that will be held at the Yelmo Cinemas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The awards include the Canary Islands section, the Cinedfest Grand Prize, the Distribution Award and the first awards for each school stage: Primary, Secondary, Baccalaureate and FP-CEPA.
"Before the digital era, there was a greater probability of making an impact with an audiovisual story; now it is more complex," said David Cánovas, director of the film contest together with Antonio Hernández. "In four editions, the students have already shot 1,156 short films and in the end the key is from what point of view the story is told," he added.
Terror, drama and comedy, the most used genres
Although the most repeated themes are bullying, addiction to new technologies and couples in all their variants, the themes of the films are heterogeneous. In addition, terror, drama and comedy are the most common genres. There are short films such as "The Book Eaters" that vindicate reading; while the film "Time of Shadows" encourages tracing the traces of Francoism.
The more than a thousand films shot by Cinedfest students during the four editions of the festival have recorded more than 17 million views on YouTube, according to Cinedfest.
The films are not only located in classrooms, but this year the number of shootings outdoors has increased exponentially: in parks, beaches, streets, garages, abandoned spaces... "These apprentice directors, screenwriters and editors demonstrate their audiovisual expertise with impossible shots, overhead shots, ellipses or stop-motion in which they demonstrate that they have assimilated the audiovisual concepts in the 142 master classes received", they explained from the organization.
13 centers from Lanzarote have participated
In the fourth edition of Cinedfest 268 educational centers have participated, of which 13 are from Lanzarote. These centers will compete for a total of 62 prizes: 38 trophies (between the Canary Islands and the Peninsula) and 24 individual prizes for script, direction, interpretation, poster and original music. There will also be a new Classroom Coexistence trophy, which will be awarded by the Youth, Equality and Historical Heritage Area of the Cabildo de Tenerife. The Aula Enclave trophy will also be awarded, which is awarded by Sinpromi, which will be for "My Heroine", from the Tablero 1-Aguañac institute.
Special mentions will also be given to "Your gaze can change the world", from the Alonso Pérez Díaz institute and "I'll wait for you in the dream of always, don't be late", from the El Médano institute. "One more year the DISA Foundation award will be given to the values of respect, effort and solidarity," said the organization.
Several winning short films from previous editions of Cinedfest have been exhibited at international festivals in countries such as China, Costa Rica, Canada, England, Slovenia or the United States and have won awards such as "One Point Less Above the Sky", which won the youth award at the Kontrabando Film Festival (Palma de Mallorca).
Cinedfest is sponsored by the Government of the Canary Islands, Cabildo de Tenerife, Cabildo de Gran Canaria, DISA Foundation, Hey! Participa, Sinpromi and CajaCanarias Foundation, and with the collaboration of Televisión Canaria and SGAE Foundation.