The short film "The voiceless", made by sixth grade students from the Capellanía de Yágabo school in Arrecife, has won the first prize in the primary category of the fourth edition of Cinedfest. The jury's decision was announced on Thursday morning at a gala held at the Yelmo Cinemas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
"We are all very excited, super happy," the teacher in charge of the short, Alfonso López Rodriguez, who traveled with the students and the director of the center to the event, told La Voz. "An incredible experience," remarked the teacher, who also explained that the gala and the organization have been "very good."
"The message of the short is to try to claim that boys and girls also have to have a voice, they have to have their opinion, that they are not only citizens of tomorrow but also citizens of the present," said the teacher from the Capellanía de Yágabo school. "It is a way of claiming that students have a lot to say and have many good ideas to contribute," he added.
"Teachers sometimes what we do is tell them to shut up"
Regarding the development of the short film, Alfonso López explained that "it begins in the future, five years from now, when the fifth anniversary of a global pandemic in which all school-age children are left without a voice is being celebrated. And then the present is seen, that a school on the island of Lanzarote was where it all began."
The teacher of the winning sixth grade students highlighted "the scene of how the students are losing their voices" within the short and pointed out that this fact of losing their voices is "also thanks to the teachers, who sometimes what we do is tell them to shut up more than encourage them to speak and participate."
More than 500 students from the Archipelago have attended the gala
More than 500 schoolchildren from Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria have remained expectant for three hours to find out if their educational center was one of the winners of any of the awards at this educational film festival.
The president of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, was in charge of announcing to the attendees of the gala that "The Last Sin" of the Adeje Institute has been valued by the jury as the film that has best captured the spirit of the Canary Islands Educational Festival. This film tells a story of gender violence in a horror key. While the Distribution award, which is awarded by Digital 104, has gone to "Not so far", from the San Matías Institute (Tenerife), which means that it will be distributed in the international circuit of film festivals.
Coromoto Yanes, vice president of Sinpromi; Soledad Monzón, Minister of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands; or Aurora Moreno Santana, general director of Cultural Promotion of the Government of the Canary Islands, have been some of those in charge of presenting the awards to the students.
Four trophies have been awarded to the best "book-trailers"
The award for the best short film in Secondary Education has been awarded to "Fideo", from the Nuryana school (Tenerife); while the most valued film in Baccalaureate has been "Y si", from the Santa Ana Institute (Tenerife). Finally, in the FP-CEPA category, the first prize has gone to "Teko", from the integrated FP César Manrique school (Tenerife).
The jury that has decided which of the educational centers have taken these nine award-winning prizes has been integrated, among others, by María Calimano, director of the Filmoteca Canaria, or the actress Paola Bontempi. For their part, the special awards, Aula Enclave, which are awarded by Sinpromi and Fundación DISA, have gone to "My heroine", from the Tablero 1-Aguañac Institute and "Boys vs girls", from the Antonio Padrón school, respectively.
In addition, four trophies have been awarded to the best "book-trailers" to the Marina Cebrián, Valle Guerra and Mencey Bencomo centers. It is also worth mentioning the special prize awarded by the actress Marian Aguilera to the Pérez Galdós Institute (Gran Canaria) for its dedication to the world of cinema.
