ESCAC rolls out an extensive programme of activities in Sitges, led by The Dream Makers

More than 500 students and alumni have taken part in numerous industry-related activities in Sitges.

ESCAC is once again celebrating its collaboration with the Sitges – Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya with ESCAC Week, a week packed with activities designed to bring the industry closer to future filmmakers. In total, more than 500 students and alumni are taking part in the Sitges experience.

The winners of the The Dream Makers contest were announced on 3 October during the festival’s opening ceremony. The Dream Makers: Short Film Contest, launched by CUPRA and the brand’s ambassador J.A. Bayona, in collaboration with the Escuela Superior de Cine y Audiovisuales de Catalunya (ESCAC), aims to foster the next generation of creative talent in film.

The selected short-film projects are Homing, by Hansel Rodrigues and Lizzie Atherton, which explores attitudes towards immigration and the limits of political correctness in an original and fresh way; and Señuelo, by Martha García Ayerbe, an original story that delves into questions of masculinity and violence through elements of fantasy cinema. The winning projects will be produced by CUPRA and ESCAC, with Bayona as mentor.

The next step: The Dream Makers: The Film Studies Contest

The 57th edition of the Sitges Festival also served as a platform to announce the next phase of the initiative The Dream Makers: the Film Studies Contest, aimed at young filmmakers aged 17 to 21. Participants must submit their projects between 14 October and 15 November 2024 and base their short films on three keywords chosen by CUPRA, J.A. Bayona and ESCAC: “Barcelona”, “cinema” and “eye”.

The contest winner, who will be announced by ESCAC in December 2024, will receive a full four-year scholarship to develop their filmmaking talent at ESCAC, along with a monthly stipend to cover basic living expenses for the duration of their studies.

All the information about taking part in the Film Studies Contest is now available on the ESCAC website.

Proyecta Conference

The 10th Proyecta Conference is a space where, year after year, ESCAC gives visibility to the important work carried out by film industry professionals dedicated to film marketing and commercial exploitation.

In this latest edition, held on Monday 7 October, a discussion focused on “Film production in co-official languages and the market opportunities that arise from it”. It featured prominent industry figures such as Toni Carrizosa, producer of Casa en flames (Sábado Películas); Jaume Ripoll, founder of the Atlántida Mallorca Film Festival and co-founder of Filmin; Andrea Barrionuevo, executive producer at Atresmedia; and Sergi Casamitjana, director of ESCAC and producer.

The winners at the 10th Proyecta Awards are:

• Best Average per Cinema for an International Film
  • Inside Out 2, by The Walt Disney Company – Iberia
• Best Average per Cinema for a National Film
  • Ocho apellidos marroquís, by Universal Pictures Spain
• Inspira Award
  • Toni Carrizosa, producer of Casa en flames
• Inspira Award
  • Jaume Ripoll, founder of the Atlántida Mallorca Film Festival

Laboratori Òpera Prima

As part of ESCAC’s Laboratori Òpera Prima, several masterclasses and pitching sessions have been held with members of the ten projects selected for this edition. Director Albert Pintó, producers Gustavo Ferrada and Aintza Serra, journalist María Guerra, and digital content expert Mariaje González were the professionals invited to share their knowledge.

The projects taking part in the 2024 edition of Laboratori Òpera Prima are:

• Endavant (Marc Muñoz, Jordi Capdevila)
• Camionero (Ezequiel Seguí, Fran Marise)
• La favorita de Dios (Marta Baldó, Diego Ulloa)
• A veces silencio (Álvaro Robles, Néstor López, Mireia Vilanova)
• Beba (Adriana Fuertes, Gemma Arquero, Arántzazu Ruiz)
• Casa quemada (Carlos del Valle, Marina Velázquez)
• El gran bazar de mis padres (Rakesh Narwani, Marina Parés, Odile Antonio-Baez)
• El pescador del Tajo (Pilar Sancho, Raquel Troyano)
• Lídia de Cadaqués (Nur Casadevall, Xavi Vara, Elena Serra)
• María Jesús Rosa. The pioneer (María Cantuel Carrasco, Fernando Sánchez-Cabezudo)

SGAE Nova Autoria Awards

The SGAE Nova Autoria Award for Best Direction (ex aequo) went to ESCAC student Marine Auclair, director and screenwriter of the short film Blava Terra.

Cine Base and Script Talent

Other activities rounded out the school’s programme in Sitges 2024. The Cine Base sX3 family day at the Sitges Festival consisted of a competition organised by SX3 and ESCAC, in which the winners had the opportunity to take part in a practical audiovisual storytelling workshop for families, creating a genre short film. In addition, during festival week, Cinebase holds workshops at different educational centres in Sitges to introduce students to cinema and to their city’s festival. Students work on creating a genre short film through a practical workshop.

Finally, through Script Talent, ESCAC STUDIO discovers emerging talent in audiovisual creation and writing. A selection of story ideas and screenplays with potential to be developed and/or produced, and presented to the industry. Of the selected projects, four belong to ESCAC alumni.