Presentation

The 11th Punto de Vista Navarra International Film Festival is being held from 6 to 11 March 2017. For the first time, it is not being held in February but in March, in an effort to avoid clashes with other international film events. In addition, it will include a documentary theatre prelude on Sunday 5 March, just ahead of the opening ceremony.

Once again, the Festival will rely on the collaboration of the Baluarte Foundation. As a result, it will be a co-production, with direction in the hands of the Department of Culture of the Government of Navarra. For the third year in a row, the main venue will be the BALUARTE Congress Centre and Auditorium of Navarra. However, four other venues in Pamplona have been chosen to host events from The Fifth Wall: the Gayarre Theatre, Café Niza, Café de la Plaza/Baluarte and Civican.

More news: this will be Oskar Alegria’s last year as Punto de Vista’s Artistic Director (one seminar and three festivals, including the 2017 edition). His successor in charge of the Festival’s programme and design will be chosen from all the applicants to a competition that is being organised by the Government of Navarra. (consultar si esto se puede adelantar)

The organisers of Punto de Vista are facing this new edition in the hope that they are able to replicate last year’s good results, when the Festival held its 10th edition and consolidated its return to the annual mode (after a hiatus in 2014), reaching record highs in the number of participants (more than 8000) and in media coverage (over 500 appearances in the press, radio, television or the Internet). Besides, last year the Festival tied the knot with the city of Pamplona by organising a series of side activities like the live concerts and events at the Katakrak bookshop and café, the accommodation of guests in hostels and the parties in various local establishments.

The 11th Punto de Vista will have a similar structure to past editions, including an Official Selection – The Central Region –, the programme The Fifth Wall, a themed retrospective – this year, Flying –, a retrospective focusing on a single director, a section paying tribute to a forgotten filmmaker from Spain – Heterodocsias –, special sessions, the X Films project and the traditional awards: Punto de Vista Grand Prix for Best Film, Jean Vigo Award for Best Director, Best Short Film Award, People’s Choice Award and Youth Award.

Over 1200 entries in the Official Selection/The Central Region

A total of 1,290 feature length and 636 short films have been submitted to the 11th edition of Punto de Vista, within the official section, called The Central Region.

As many as 1290 short and feature films have been entered to be screened in the Official Selection of the 11th Punto de Vista Festival, aka ‘The Central Region’. This figure confirms the Festival’s upward trend that began in 2015, when it returned to the annual mode. From an average 700 films in previous years, the number rose to 1237 in 2015 and 1378 in 2016.

The films presented come from 79 different countries. The majority of entries are from Spain, with 206 films submitted, followed by France (113 films), Argentina (72), Belgium (60), the US (58), Germany (57), Mexico (56), Brazil (36), Colombia (26) and Canada (22).

This pre-selection stage has also received submissions from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Haiti, Senegal, Uruguay, Qatar, India, Egypt, Australia, South Korea, Azerbaijan, China, Indonesia, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam, in addition to 228 co productions between several countries. 

Following along the lines of the previous edition, this year there have been a substantial number of films submitted from Latin America, as well as from Africa and Asia.

The success in terms of the number of films is mostly due to the work done by the Festival’s international representatives: Andrea Picard (North America), Elena Fortes (Latin America), Noureddine Ben Driss (Africa) and Asako Fujioka (Asia). Without their contacts with producers from all over the world, many titles would never make their way to Pamplona.

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