Record of 'shorts' in the 5th edition of Skyline Benidorm Film Festival, which moves its celebration to summer

Skyline Benidorm Film Festival has started its fifth edition setting a new participation record, as confirmed today by the Councilor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez, and the director of the contest, Beatriz Hernández. Thus, 455 short films will fight to be among the 40 works selected to compete in the four contest sections of this fifth edition that is internationalized by launching the official European section and that moves its celebration to the early stages of summer.

The councillor has indicated that “the start of this edition could not be better, exceeding the number of jobs by 150 compared to the previous year; an upward trend in participation that we are convinced will also take place in the script contest, whose registration is open until March 1 ”.

The director of the Skyline, on the other hand, has indicated that "these figures confirm that the festival is gaining weight and visibility within the national film sector, being increasingly known among distributors and creators." Hernández added that "the trajectory of these four years and the payment per selection make the Skyline an attractive festival for directors, who also in the different editions have conveyed their satisfaction for all the complementary and parallel activities, in addition to especially valuing the favor an environment for 'networking' between filmmakers and the fact of being able to share their work and comment on it with viewers

Regarding the new date of the festival, the councillor of Culture explained that “as far as possible, we intend that this edition of the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival combine online activities with face-to-face activities, thus recovering and promoting the pleasure of watching films in cinemas . Hence, we have chosen to postpone the date of the festival to the end of June, hoping that the health situation will allow in-person public screenings at that time, logically observing all the necessary security measures ”.

Thus, the scheduled date for the festival is from June 25 to July 4. In addition, the Skyline director has advanced that "the festival is scheduled to launch a new website in the coming weeks."

Competition sections

Skyline Benidorm Film Festival gives seven awards in the different sections: best European short film, best national fiction short film, best national animation short film, best national documentary short film, best short film in Valencian language, best short film on sustainability and best short film made by students. In addition to the financial prizes, other prizes are awarded for production, direction, best photography and the best original soundtrack. In addition, for the third year the script contest will be held, and for the second year, the contest for best Shortpitch, valued at € 12,000 for the shooting of the winning project in the city.

As in previous editions, the contest maintains one of its main hallmarks, payment per screening, so that the 25 works selected within the competitive national section will receive 200 euros.

 2020 Edition

As Pérez recalled, in 2020 the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival “showed its versatility by adapting to the circumstances arising from the pandemic and opting for a 100% online edition going hand in hand with Filmin, one of the main streaming platforms.