Debut features by Austėja Urbaitė, Telmo Churro and Sebastian Mihailescu are among seven films selected by the ‘Smart7’ network of seven European film festivals for the first edition of its competitive section of films by emerging filmmakers.
The seven titles will be first shown together at the forthcoming Vilnius IFF (March 16-26), before being screened at IndieLisboa (April 27-May 7), Filmmadrid (June 6-11), Transilvania (June 9-18), New Horizons (July 21-31), Reykjavik (September 28 - October 8) and Thessaloniki (November).
A jury of university students from each country will decide on the winner of the €5,000 prize.
Vilnius’ Kino Pavasaris selected Lithuanian director Urbaitė’s adoption drama Remember To Blink which had its world premiere at the Warsaw Film Festival last autumn, while IndieLisboa chose Churro’s Índia, a drama set in a Lisbon of suicidal heroes, and Cluj’s TIFF picked Mihailescu’s experimental narrative cinema Mammalia which premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum section last month.
Rocio Mesa’s second feature Tobacco Barns which screened in San Sebastian’s new directors section last September, is the pick of the network’s Spanish member Filmadrid, and Wroclaw’s New Horizons selected Damian Kocur’s Bread And Salt, a drama inspired by true events and featuring a cast of non-professionals, which screened in the Orizzonti sidebar at Venice last year.
Meanwhile, Reykjavik’s choice fell was Gústav Geir Bollason’s documentary Mannvirki which premiered in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition at the beginning of this year.
The line-up of seven titles is completed by Thessaloniki’s pick; Spiros Jacovides’ award-winning mother and son comedy Black Stone.
Speaking about the selection, New Horizons’ artistic director Ewa Szabłowska said: “We are very excited to share Smart7 as a travelling competition to all our festivals. In the selection we were wishing to give space to a new generation of filmmakers, who are making first steps onto the international film circuits, and to amplify their voices.
“Debut and second films can be often overlooked at festivals so we see the Smart7 competition as an empowering gesture to shed more visibility on both young directors and cinema from different corners of Europe.”
The Smart7 network was launched at the beginning of this year to respond to the current and future needs of festivals, and will see the events share advice and knowledge on issues such as programming, audience development through to sponsorship and fundraising.
The scheme received support from the EU’s Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme and European Festival Networks.
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