The Film Festival’s Market is a meeting point with industry experts that will provide those works participating in MECAS’ third edition with advice
Mecas Island, thanks to Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria (SPEGC) and Gran Canaria Film Commission, launches an EAVE workshop, one of Europe’s leading projects for the training and development of producers.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 26 February 2019.- Nine international projects will compete for the prize of this edition’s Market of Almost-Finished Films, an industry meeting point within Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival that will gather key industry professionals at the Guiniguada Theater from March 24 to 26.
MECAS, coordinated by Lorena Morín, has kept unchanged throughout the year its objective of accompanying at their final stage a series of works that stand out because of their narrative ambition, aesthetic risk and film quality. These works, that will received advise from experts and will be assessed by a jury, are films that not only tell stories, but do so while transmitting emotions.
Le bel été / A Beautiful Summer by Pierre Creton (France); Puerto deseado by Diana Toucedo (Spain); El trabajo o a quién le pertenece el mundo/ Work or to Whom Does the World Belong, by Elisa Cepedal (Spain, United Kingdom); La viajante by Miguel Ángel Mejías (Spain), a hundred-percent Canarian project that won Mecas Island in 2017; Las ranas by Edgardo Castro (Argentina); Las poetas by Laura Citarella and Mercedes Halfon (Argentina); Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another, by Jessica Sarah Rinland (Spain, United Kingdom); Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, by Miguel Llansó (Spain, Estonia, Latvia, United Kingdom, Ethiopia and Romania) and Tony Driver, a Backward Deportee, by Ascanio Petrini (Italy, Mexico) are the works competing for the 8000-euro prize intended to the film’s post-production.
In line with the Festival’s programming, MECAS is confirmed as a place for a series of projects with artistic value, incorporating the most personal voices of some authors, in many cases yet unknown, the Festival predicts a strong festival tour.
In 2018 the Market’s hallmark could be seen at the Locarno International Film Festival and at the San Sebastián Film Festival accompanying Ana Schulz and Cristóbal Fernández’s film Mudar la piel, winner of the 2017 MECAS award. In addition, 2018’s winning project, Hamada, by Eloy Domínguez Serén, premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and continued its journey at the Gijón International Film Festival, where it won the Best Spanish Film Award. In both cases, the circle brings them back to the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, which has included them within the non-competitive section Panorama Spain.
Among the sponsors the market has had in its two previous editions are experts from international prestigious festivals such as the Berlinale (Panorama, World Cinema Fund), Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, FidLAB, Gijón, Márgenes, Zinebi, Eurimages, and from production and distribution companies such as Memento Films, Doc and Films, Alpha Violet Films, Capricci Cine, Zeitún Films, Stray Dogs, Morena Films, Noodles Productions, Sling Shot Films, Andergraun Films, Numax Distribución or Cine Binario. Once again, the next edition of the Market shall have significant industry experts, from sample programming areas and big film festivals as well as from national and international production.
MECAS Island
MECAS Island has been part of the market’s program from the beginning. Once again it will gather industry experts to support and promote local filmmakers’ talent while connecting regional and international professionals.
MECAS Island’s entry period remains open. Those interested in competing for the Canary Island Films Award this section of the market grants, and which consists on providing the winner with a 1200-euro travel bursary to attend an international market, should contact MECAS through the following email: mecas@lpafilmfestival.com.
MECAS Island’s participants will have the opportunity to attend a series of pitch meetings with their projects in development on March 26 at the Guiniguada Theater. These meetings match the model used in international markets and forums, providing all participants with the chance to introduce themselves in front of a group of international experts and consultants.
In 2018 La hojarasca, by Macu Machín, won this award. In 2017, as previously noted, La viajante, by Miguel Ángel Mejías, was MECAS Island’s winning project, and is now participating in the market’s international section.
EAVE workshop
In 2019, MECAS Island also launches, always in collaboration with Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria (SPEGC) [Gran Canaria Economic Promotion Society] and Gran Canaria Film Commission, an EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) workshop, one of Europe’s leading projects for the training and development of producers.
This workshop, aimed at Canarian producers and filmmakers with a project under development or WIP, will take place on Saturday, March 23, only with EAVE’s selected works.
Montevidean producer Agustina Chiarino will be the one charged with coordinating this meeting, set up with this professional training organization. Her career includes, among many others, works such as La discípula del velocímetro, by Miguel Calderón; Gigante, by Adrián Biniez; Hiroshima y 3, by Pablo Stoll; or Tanta agua by Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, which has taken her to festivals like Rotterdam, Berlin, Toronto, Cannes or San Sebastián.
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