FEST — New Directors , New Films Festival is a film festival and training event which occurs annually in the city of

Espinho, Portugal Espinho () is a city and a municipality located in the Aveiro District, Portugal. It is located in both the Greater Porto and the Metropolitan Area of Porto, 16 km from its city centre. It is one of the smallest municipalities in Portugal and ...

. FEST has the purpose of "promoting the work of new directors from all over the world". Parallel to the film competition, there is Training Ground, an educational event for young filmmakers. The speakers are top experts with recognized achievements.

History

New Directors , New Films Festival, was founded in 2004, as FEST – Youth Video and Film Festival. It was born out of the necessity to create a space where new and up-and-coming filmmakers could screen their work. Among many other objectives was the will to promote already established names alongside new one, in order to open new paths for new talents to break through. The year 2005 marked the beginning of the Film Students Encounter, the event that would later be developed and renamed Training Ground. Training Ground had its first official date in 2009. In that year Tom Stern (cinematographer of ''

Million Dollar Baby ''Million Dollar Baby'' is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection ''Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner' ...

'' and '' Gran Torino'') and Álex Rodríguez (film editor of '' Y Tu Mamá También'' and ''

Children of Men ''Children of Men'' is a 2006 dystopian action thriller film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel '' The Children of Men'', was credited to five writers, with Clive Owen making uncredi ...

'') were among the speakers. This first edition had a total of 160 young filmmakers from 25 different countries. In 2013, the festival was renamed FEST New Directors , New Films Festival.

Training Ground

Training Ground is an educational event that takes place alongside the film festival. It welcomes internacional film experts who share knowledge about their craft, as well hundreds of film students from all over the world, who come together for a week-long learning experience. Since its beginning in 2009, Training Ground's speakers list has included: Melissa Leo ('' Frozen River'', '' The Fighter''), Peter Webber ('' Girl with a Pearl Earring'', ''

Hannibal Rising ''Hannibal Rising'' is a psychological horror novel by American author Thomas Harris, published in 2006. It is a prequel to his three previous books featuring his most famous character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The n ...

''), Christian Berger ('' The Piano Teacher'', ''

The White Ribbon ''The White Ribbon'' (german: Das weiße Band) is a 2009 German-language drama film, written and directed by Michael Haneke. Released in black-and-white, the film offers a dark depiction of society and family in a northern German village just be ...

''), Tariq Anwar ('' American Beauty'', '' The King's Speech''), Fernando Trueba (''

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

'', '' Chico and Rita''), Tom Stern (''

'', '' Gran Torino''), Martin Walsh ('' Chicago'', '' Wonder Woman''), Laurence Bennett ('' Crash'', '' The Artist''), Eugenio Caballero ('' Pan's Labyrinth'', '' The Impossible''), Álex Rodríguez ('' Y Tu Mamá También'', ''

''), Larry Smith ('' Eyes Wide Shut'', '' Only God Forgives''), Kjartan Sveinsson ('' Vanilla Sky'', ''

127 Hours ''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston must find a ...

''), and David Macmillan ('' The Right Stuff'', ''

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

'').LUSA/Público, 2012 – "P3"http://p3.publico.pt/cultura/filmes/3673/kjartan-sveinsson-dos-sigur-ros-diz-que-criar-bandas-sonoras-e-um-desafio Training Ground is dedicated to all film production areas from editing, sound editing,

production design In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wor ...

, music, cinematography, screenwriting, directing,

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

, among others. It is made up of an intensive week of masterclasses, workshops and other events.

References

{{Reflist

External links

FEST New Directors , New Films Festival (Official Page)
Film festivals in Portugal 2004 establishments in Portugal