The 29th edition of the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn (Estonia), one of the most prestigious film events in northern Europe, was held from 7 to 23 November. This year, the Department of Culture, through the ICEC and the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), promoted a Catalan film focus in which more than 30 Catalan productions and a delegation of more than 50 professionals participated both at the festival and in the context of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the market space.
Catalan cinema wins seven awards
In the Official Section , director Júlia de Paz premiered her second feature film La buena hija (Astra Pictures, Avalon, Krater Films), a film about family and intergenerational bonds that follows the story of Carmela.
The Catalan production returns home with three outstanding awards : the Grand Prix for Best Film , the Best Actress award for Kiara Arancibia and the Audience Award .
The film is the result of the short film Harta (Mayo Films), selected at Shortcat 2022
At the Just Film Youth and Children's Film Festival , a sub-festival of the PÖFF – Black Nights Film Festival, in the section In Focus: Catalonia , Children's Competition Program and Children's Rights Programme , the feature film Leo & Lou (Zeta Cinema, Zeta Audiovisual, Frida Films, Aurora Audiovisual AIE, Lunatica Limited, Motion Picture Management) by Carlos Solano was presented . The film won the Best Film Award .
The Catalan short film has also stood out strongly and has been awarded at PÖFF Shorts: the animation piece Perquè auvi es sabàd (Studio Kimchi, Animais AVPL, La Clairière Production) by Alice Guimarães has won the award for Best Animation .
Within the industry framework, two Catalan projects have been awarded at the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the event where projects in the development and post-production phase are presented to international professionals in the sector, seeking financing, co-production and distribution opportunities.
On the one hand, the project presented at TV Beats Co-Financing Market , Aigües de foscor (Lastor Media, Cataluña Federation Studios, Federation Spain, New Media), by Víctor Garcia has won the TV Drama Vision Göteborg award .
On the other hand, David Gutiérrez Camps' project Les convulsions (Auca Films, Cinètica Produccions, Timber Films, IMY Prod), which was presented at International Works in Progress, has won the International Works in Progress Public Favorite award.
The importance of Catalan audiovisual
For some years now, Catalan cinema has been making a significant mark on Europe. Fiction, animation and documentary audiovisual productions play a very relevant role at festivals around the world, receive international awards and are released on screens all over the world. The recognition of international critics and audiences is unanimous, and the prestige of Catalan professionals is a reflection of a very powerful industry, with undeniable talent and training of enormous quality.
In 2024, the Department of Culture dedicated more than 60 million to the audiovisual sector, a record figure. Audiovisual remains one of the Government's axes for this legislature and it is a priority to promote it as a strategic sector. The Department of Culture's subsidy lines - managed by the ICEC - cover the entire audiovisual value chain, with items intended, for example, for development and co-production. The Institut Ramon Llull, for its part, promotes the internationalization of audiovisual through its lines of competition and collaboration with international film festivals.
This support has helped to make visible and consolidate some of the values for which Catalan audiovisual stands out: the talent of professionals, the existence of internationally recognized training centers, the work and commitment of a powerful audiovisual industry, which draws on a long tradition and generates an enormous variety of productions, and the wealth of a very large number of festivals that place the country on the international map.
