Ever since its inaugural year in 2004, Portugal’s New Film Festival Set (FEST) has provided a platform for cutting-edge films by up-and-coming and established filmmakers. Over the years, the festival has brought together some of the best local, national and international creatives, and this year promises to be no exception.
Sheduled to kick off on the fourth of October in Espinho, a seaside city in the northwest of the country, the 17th edition of the festival will be divided into two main competitive categories: Feature Film and Short Film. These, in turn, will be divided into a number of sub-categories including Documentary, Fiction, Experimental Non-Narrative and Animation.
The non-competitive part of the event will include beach screenings, national and regional showcases, and retrospectives. There will also be an exhibition that focuses on transmedia and virtual reality.
Each year, the festival also features a number of other activities, such as the FEST – Training Ground and FEST – Pitching Forum. Some of the other events that run parallel to FEST include workshops, masterclasses and case studies.
One of the more interesting parts of the festival is FESTinha, which has been specifically curated with children and teenagers in mind. Aimed at youngsters between 6 and 16, the short and feature films will be screened in sessions aimed at three different age groups. Significantly, FESTinha’s jury will be composed exclusively of children.
In the past 17 years, FEST has showcased such renowned films as Sean Baker’s Tangerine, Tobias Nole’s Aloys and Carlos Marques-Mercet’s 10.000KM. It has also played host to such prominent names as Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian filmmaker who directed the 2018 film Everybody Knows, and the award-winning Polish production designer and set decorator Allan Starski.
In addition, the event has been a launching pad for such filmmakers as Aga Woszczynska from Poland, Govinda Van Maele from Luxembourg, Mati Diop from France and Simon Mésa Soto from Colombia.
The event is currently accepting submissions from filmmakers of first and second feature films, and filmmakers of short films under the age of 35. The deadline for submissions is 11 July.
FEST will run hot on the heels of UK’s Sundance Film Festival, which is scheduled from July 29 - August 1.
