ZINETIKA Festival was represented at the presentation of the K Awards, performed in the forum “Sinergias entre festivales: pasado, presente y futuro”, held last Thursday, September 23rdat the 69thSan Sebastian Film Festival.
It is a meeting hosted by the journalist and filmmaker Javier Tolentino and promoted by the Cineclub Kresala of San Sebastian with the aim of promoting collaboration between film societies and film festivals, a relationship that has already embodied in the K AWARDS, enhaced by the film societies Zinetogram (Azkoitia), Goieniz (Beasain) and Butak21 (Urretxu-Zumarraga); and the festivals Zinetika, Animadeba, Sign Language Film Festival, Donosskino and Amua.
As Ander Gisasola from Film Society Kresala stated in his speech: “in every film festival, a jury formed of different members of the film societies will choose a film that is worth broadcasting in the network of film societies. Subsequently, the film societies will be able to include these films in their programming, organizing monographic sessions or offering various short films in their regular sessions. The main objective is to bring the offer of film festivals closer to the towns, as well as to consolidate the network of film societies to build new projects in the future”. In addition, Gisasola said that agreements have been reached with the REC, D ‘A and AMERICAN festivals to offer titles in the film societies during the following weeks to the celebration of the festivals.
On the other hand, Joan Sala, the scheduler and edition coordinator of Filmin (a Spanish online film platform) and the Atlantida film festival explained that “we have always been willing to work with different agents and we have lately accessed the film distribution business in theaters from Filmin. Film societies are the essential traveling partners on the journey. For example, the film “Josep” started with 15 copies and it increased the number to 50 copies in 4 months thanks to film societies”.
Furthermore, Sara Hernandez, the representative of the research project “Zinemaldia 70: todas las historias posibles” (Zinemaldia 70: all possible stories), added that “film societies must claim their importance within the industry, as well as their work historically, because they build a community and it is essential to introduce it all into the society”.
Finally, the participants in this meeting appealled film societies and film festivals to join the PREMIOS K network by sending an e-mail to the following address: email@example.com.