20/06/2008

Preparations have been completed for the 23rd edition of the Cinema Jove International Film Festival, which will be held in Valencia from June 21-28. The Official Selection – which includes ten features and 51 shorts – focuses on films “connected to life and which speak of reality" by young emerging directors.

European films dominate the line-up, accounting for seven of the ten features in competition. These include Valencian director Pau Martínez’s El kaserón (Spain); Jovan Arsenic’s Heroes from the Neighbourhood (Germany); Taavi Lema’s Autumn Ball [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Estonia); Delphine Kreuter’s 57,000 Kilometres Between Us (France); Paolo Marinou-Blanco’s Goodnight Irene [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Portugal); Teona S. Mitevska’s I Am From Titov Veles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile] (Macedonia); and Philippe Aractingi’s Under the Bombs (France/Lebanon/UK/Belgium).

The major prize in this section – the Golden Moon of Valencia – will be awarded by a jury comprising Polish director Jerzy Skolimowsky, Canadian experimental filmmaker Emmanuel Lefrant, Spanish actress Patricia García Méndez (Hitting Bottom), Spanish photographer Javier Salmones and Mexican producer Gustavo Montiel. The winning film will receive €18,000 for its Spanish distributor, who must release the title within 12 months following the competition.

There is also a strong European presence in the film shorts section, where France leads the way with nine titles, followed by Spain with eight and the UK and Germany with four each. The competition jury, presided by Polish director Julia Ruszkiewicz (Wild Duck Season), will award three prizes: the Golden, Silver and Bronze Moon Awards.

(Translated from Spanish)