The Skyline Benidorm Film Festival presents its most international edition at Fitur

The Skyline Benidorm Film Festival presented its ninth edition at Fitur on Thursday, the most international edition held so far. The mayor, Toni Pérez, and the festival director, Beatriz Hernández, gave the details of this edition, which will be held from March 29 to April 5. Participation is breaking records, and the festival will come “with important new features.”

The first of these, is the launch of PRISMA, an International Co-production meeting that, according to Hernández, “aims to internationalize the space that until now was dedicated to industry conferences, promoting the meeting between producers and short film projects at any stage of development”. A meeting that comes in the same edition in which the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival incorporates a section of international short films and in which the event also premieres a “guest country”, which in this case will be Cuba.

The mayor stressed that the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival is “a proposal linked to the territory” and the confirmation of the city’s “commitment” to “culture, the audiovisual sector and short films”. He also highlighted that “few cultural products have such an impact in such a short time”, referring to the growth and evolution that the event has experienced over almost a decade, something that has also been contributed to by the fact that it is “surrounded by a great tourist product” such as the destination Benidorm.

The festival director highlighted some of the figures of this ninth edition, such as the increase in participation. Specifically, “more than 800 short films have been registered, with an increase of 27% compared to the previous edition”. Also on the rise is the Screenplay Competition, which has broken its record with 497 registered scripts, with an increase of 51.5% compared to the previous edition. The same trend is expected for the Short Pitch, which is still in the registration period and “this year increases its prize to 17,000 euros, thanks to the collaboration of Valencian companies in the audiovisual sector that offer equipment, work and services.”

Aside from the figures, Hernández has reaffirmed the festival’s commitment to inclusion, renewing the collaboration with ONCE for the initiative ‘Cinema for all’, whose objective is to raise awareness among professionals about the importance of making cinema accessible to all audiences. In addition, the festival offers specific activities for people with visual disabilities, who will be able to enjoy the screenings through an innovative audio description application.