FILMETS expands its venues and strengthens its commitment to the industry

The FILMETS Badalona Film Festival, now in its 51st edition, is consolidating its commitment to internationalization, innovation, and education with significant new features. More than 250 films from around the world will compete to win one of the Badalona Venus awards, which will be presented during the Night of the Venus.

Professional and training activities

Among these new features is the creation of FILMETS Lab, a new audiovisual and film laboratory space where fiction, animation, and documentary projects will be presented. A jury made up of industry professionals will select one of the proposals to support in its production process and screen it at the next edition of FILMETS. Also debuting is FILMETS Talk, a meeting format with filmmakers, producers, and industry professionals that will encourage debate and reflection on the present and future of short films.

The first confirmed guest is Michael Minkler, the American sound mixer who has won three Hollywood Oscars for Black Hawk Down, Chicago, and Dreamgirls.

With these new initiatives, the festival reinforces its commitment to the industry, developed for years under the FILMETS Pro label: professional days featuring round tables and specialized talks. Within this framework, this year will feature the second edition of Acció Cinema, a round table organized by Productors Audiovisuals de Catalunya, an animation masterclass with Estudi Grangel, responsible for films such as Corpse Bride and Kung Fu Panda, and a session hosted by the Clúster Audiovisual de Catalunya and the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, led by Cristian Trepat, Director of Content and Programming at 3Cat.

The festival’s professional strand is further complemented by its educational activities, such as collaborations with schools and universities, screenings in libraries, or sessions for primary and secondary students, which bring more than 5,000 young people from Badalona schools and institutes to the festival every year.

New venues

The festival is also expanding its territorial presence with new venues in Terrassa (Cinemes Catalunya), which will host a fantastic and horror cinema session, and in Granollers (Cinemes Edison), with a new family cinema event. They join those in Badalona (Teatre Zorrilla and El Círcol), Sant Boi de Llobregat (Can Castellet), and Barcelona (Institut Français). In addition, there are unofficial venues such as Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, Municipal de Badalona Hospital, and the Guttmann Institute.

Around thirty international film sessions

The programme highlights include screenings in the Official Section, with around 250 shorts spread across 28 themed sessions. These include some of the most established ones, such as the two family events, FILMETS en família and Petit FILMETS. The festival once again serves as the gateway to the best UK productions thanks to the session dedicated to the BAFTAs, the awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Also returning are the Late Night Session, dedicated to the most irreverent productions, the Campus Session, aimed at film students, and KM 0, for Catalan films.

The Night of the Venus, the award ceremony, will take place on October 25 at the Teatre Zorrilla in Badalona, and will be broadcast live on Televisió de Badalona, local TV stations associated with La Xarxa, and the La Xarxa+ platform.

With this programme, the festival reinforces its mission of being an open window to cultural diversity and a meeting point for both emerging and established talent in short filmmaking worldwide.