Barcelona International Short Film Festival ‘Mecal’ becomes a ‘not-to-be-missed’ festival

Barcelona (ACN).- Short narrations, animations, documentaries, video clips, advertisements, or dance videos, are some of the movies that are screened in Mecal, the Barcelona International Short Film Festival. In its 14^th edition, the festival shows more than 300 short films from over 35 countries. Mecal has become a ‘not-to-be-missed’ event among Spanish and international film festivals and the most important in Spain according to its number of film entries. For this year’s edition Mecal has received over 4,500 entries, 1,000 more than last year. The competition is divided into three main sections: International, Oblique and Documentaries; however, there is a large number of other sections running parallel to them and covering different genres, topics, and periods.

Mecal screens more than 300 short films from over 35 countries selected between the 4,500 entries that the organisers have received in this 14^th edition, which takes place from April 12^th until April 29^th in Barcelona. These works are divided into three sections (International, Oblique, and Documentaries), which are competing for the awards by a jury and the audience. The Director of Mecal, Roberto Barrueco, has admitted that they received all kind of short films, some amateur, but others with a high technical value.

Barrueco has explained that the objective of the festival is to show the best work from Catalonia and across the globe. The idea is that students and amateurs have better access to short films. “It is a general festival that covers all genres with big competition among the entries and also parallel sections”, added Barrueco.

This year the parallel sections (not in competition) include a vintage-style ‘First ever’ that offers short films where the audience can see the first appearance of a mobile telephone or a screen kiss. There are also the following categories: ‘End of the World’, ‘Antihero’, ‘Heavy Metal and Freak’, ‘Sex Special (Golden Shower)’, and ‘Nerd and other human oddities’. Mecal also offers a retrospective of the French director François Ozon’s short films, as well as a Swiss short film festival, from the Winterthur Festival, and the Dance Video special. For the younger audience, Mecal offers a ‘Children’s special’ with morning sessions on Tuesdays. Moreover, the classic sections of ‘Horror Special’ and ‘Womart’ (dedicated to the world of women) have kept their places in the programme. Other formats that the audience of this 14^th edition of Mecal can watch are Video clips and advertisements, including the year’s best ads.

The guest country of this edition of Mecal is Germany. There is an animation special related to the country, including the best short films from the Interfilm Berlin Festival. Furthermore there is a selection of short films of relevant German directors such as Rainer Werner Flassbinder or Fatih Akin.

In this 14^th edition the festival has been reorganised to have more screening days. Now Mecal screens the short films from Thursday to Sunday over three weekends (from April 12^th to April 29^th) and has 2 more days than in 2011. According to Barrueco, this new structure has some advantages such as the greater presence in the city of Barcelona and the removal of the weakest days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday), when other screenings will take place.

A good moment for the Catalan production

The Barcelona International Short Film Festival also screens a review of the best short films from this year’s Spanish and Catalan Scene. This year, Barrueco has ensured that the Catalan production in short films is ‘very high’. “In Catalonia we know how to make good cinema and production has been quite good for the last 10 or 15 years”, he has explained. Barrueco has recommended the Catalan short film ‘Flejos y Reflejos’ by Roberto López; and ‘Curfew’ by Shawn Christensen and Nathalie Álvarez.

Mecal also organises the international short films market from April 26^th until April 29^th where buyers, distributors, filmmakers and other national and international professionals in the audiovisual sector will meet.