The SMART7 competition, of the European network of film festivals of which FILMADRID is a member, was shown for the last time at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, where a young international jury awarded the prize to the Portuguese representative ÍNDIA by Telmo Churro.
With the aim of strengthening and promoting the international circulation of European films, the SMART7 network of film festivals hosted a competition section in which seven films (one from each participating country) competed for the Smart7 Award, endowed with 5,000 euros.
The network consists of seven European film festivals: New Horizons International Film Festival (Poland), FILMADRID Festival Internacional de Cine (Spain), IndieLisboa - International Film Festival (Portugal), Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece), Transilvania International Film Festival (Romania), Reykjavik International Film Festival (Iceland) and Vilnius Kino Pavasaris International Film Festival (Lithuania).
The SMART7 Competition has been screened during 2023 in all the festivals that are part of the network and that developed the programme working closely together, respecting their own identity and programming criteria. The list of films in competition included the following titles: Black Stoneby Spiros Jacovides (Greece); Bread and Saltby Damian Kocur (Poland); ÍNDIAby Telmo Churro (Portugal); Mammaliaby Sebastian Mihailescu (Romania); Mannvirkiby Gústav Geir Bollason (Iceland); Remember to Blinkby Austėja Urbaitė (Lithuania) Secaderosby Rocío Mesa.
uring the award ceremony at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece), the SMART7 jury composed of students from the countries that are part of the network, thanked the festivals for the opportunity to watch and discuss these films and congratulated the 7 nominees for bringing innovative perspectives from their home countries and sharing them with the audience. The award was then presented with these words:
“In the spirit of celebrating the European Cultural diversity, the SMART7 Award goes to a film that reflects several dualities: individual and collective, the historical and personal space of memory and nostalgia and their national and international implications. The chosen film is recollection of a history of cinema and historic heritage explored through a post-modern approach and a childlike curiosity. It’s a multi-generational tale that not only explores the retelling of an ancient and complex history, but also navigates, the pure and universal topics of love, death and perpetual pursue of identity”
The young jury consisted of Amaia Zufiaur (Spain), Sveinn Áki Árnason (Iceland), Alma Buhagiar (Romania), Adam Mytnik (Poland), Greta Mecelicaitė (Lithuania), Giannis Delikostas (Greece) and Kenia Pollheim Nunes (Portugal), to whom we are very grateful for their work and commitment in this first edition of the SMART7 Competition.
