A promotional film from Catalonia as a tourist destination won the grand prize of the 11th edition of the Festival Art & Tur 2018, which runs until Saturday in Leiria, and which, nationally, awarded ‘History of love’.
‘The Route of Destiny’, directed by Román Parrado, tells the story of two friends who find a musician’s travel diary at a train station. From there, depart to the discovery of the most emblematic destinations of Catalonia.
Among the documentaries, the winner was ‘Kalunga – Portugal / Angola’, by Bernardo Gramaxo.
In the competition dedicated to the national films, the great prize went to the production commissioned by the architecture office PPS – Pilar Paiva de Sousa, ‘History of love’. This was carried out by Nuno Rocha, is developed around two strangers who check-in at a romantic hotel and, fortuitously, change the keys of the rooms.
The best Portuguese documentary was ‘Meeting of waters – Secrets of wild Portugal’, by Daniel Pinheiro.
The festival dedicated to tourism films was held for the first time in Leiria, in a bet in the Center of Portugal whose balance is “clearly positive and exceeds the expectations of the organization”, underlines the director general of Art & Tur.
“The festival has come to the right place because it has a lot, a lot to do in terms of creativity, innovation, networking. I feel happy,” said Francisco Dias.
According to Francisco Dias, “magic happened” in this edition, for the “general quality of regular participants, which is too evident,” and the new project Art & Factory, which led international filmmakers to produce original films in the Schist Villages and Historic Villages of Portugal.
“People from many continents have paid their own trips to show they have value here,” said the director of the festival, announcing that in the next edition, Art & Factory will also be extended to “mountain villages”.
The Art & Tur Factory prize went to the Brazilian team of Studio Eureka, with a simple story about human relations, filmed in Piódão, Belmonte and Sortelha.
For Pedro Machado, president of Tourism Center of Portugal, the change of the festival to the Center is “an invaluable contribution to repositioning this region”, proving important for “the new breath that, from here,” this entity intends to develop.
“This festival has brought us the evidence of the importance that the magic of cinema has in promoting and in the process of internationalization of our territories,” added Pedro Machado.
Among the several dozen prizes awarded today in Leiria to national and international films, reference to the Special Prize Center of the Portugal Film Commission, delivered to ‘Ashes to the Wind’, by Paulo César Fajardo.
‘Braga – Past, Present & Future’, by Shadow Chinese, won the best film of Porto & Norte; ‘What makes you leave?’, From the Slideshow, won the best film from the Center of Portugal; Uirá Dantas and Pedro Antino made the best film Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, ‘Discover Project – Lisbon’; Nelson Carvalheiro performed ‘Want to discover my Alentejo?’, The best Alentejo film; and João Viegas signed the best film in the Algarve, ‘Faro city of stars’.
