Catalan production claims international tourism film award

A film promoting tourism in Catalonia has won the best film prize from the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals (CIFFT).

'La Ruta de l'Atzar' (Route of Fate in English) beat 3,000 competitors from a hundred countries to win one of the awards, considered the 'Oscars' of the tourism sector.

Produced by the Catalan Tourism Agency, the body's director, Octavi Bono, picked up the award at a ceremony held in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday.

The film tells the story of two young women following in the footsteps around Catalonia of a singer whose diary they come across in a train station.

On their journey, the women go to different tourist destinations, such as Montserrat, the Pyrenees, Tarragona, Costa Brava and Girona, before they finally meet the singer.

The film, made by the Chârles Barcelona advertising agency, is part of a Catalan government campaign to mark the Year of Cultural Tourism.

"We are frankly happy and proud," said the head of the tourism agency, who also pointed out that the film has already won seven other prizes on the CIFFT festival circuit.

'La Ruta de l'Atzar' has already this year won best tourism film at international festivals held in Germany, Latvia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Catalonia, the Czech Republic and Portugal.

The CIFFT is a network of tourism film festivals aiming to promote excellence in audiovisual tourism promotion and recognizes the best films promoting a destination or product.

The organization's jury is composed of film directors, producers and other professionals in the sector. This year, second prize went to a film promoting tourism in Madrid.