02/04/2008

Jorge Vallejo’s ¡Cómo está el mundo, Fermín! last night won the top Grand Jury Prize at the sixth edition of Notodofilmfest, one of the most important short film festivals, which is held entirely on the Internet.

This year, over 1000 shorts were presented from 20 different countries. The jury, presided by Spanish director Bigas Luna (A Tale of Ham and Passion, Golden Balls, The Tit and the Moon), selected the winners in this and seven other categories, distributing a total of €50,000 in prize money.

The winning short, directed by 29-year-old Vallejo, is an ironic reflection on our planet’s decline. The award is worth €15,000 and the winner also receives a scholarship for the New York Film Academy.

According to Luna, the film’s flippant tone does not prevent it from being "dramatic, because the damage we are causing to the planet is shocking. The film’s theme gives greater importance to this issue than we are doing".

The rest of the winning shorts include La bolita: el cortometraje (Best Narrative Film); El títere (Best Animated Film); Djenneba (Best Documentary Film); Círculo de la violencia (Best Triple Distillation Film, awarded to 30-second long films); and El amor (Audience Award).

In the Best Acting category, the prize was shared between Identidad, starring Carmen Pardo and María Pérez, and La bolita, with a performance by Tony Senté.

Despite a proliferation of festivals of this type, Notodofilmfest is recognised as one of the foremost of its kind in Europe, in terms of the quality of the shorts, the prizes, the number of participants and virtual viewers (which this year exceeded 1m).

Spurred on by phenomena such as YouTube, the Internet is now increasingly accepted as a valid alternative to conventional distribution methods for young directors, giving them the chance to show their debut films and gain all-important visibility.

(Translated from Spanish)