HISPASAT hosted a 4K International Short Film Festival in which six winners won from a field of 14 short films, shot and post-produced in 4K format.
A total of 101 short films from 14 different countries were submitted to the second edition of this pioneering contest, nearly 40 percent more than in 2015, confirming the progressive increase of content in 4K format and the spread of this technology. The call was open to films of all nationalities shot and post-produced in 4K format as of January 1, 2014, in any genre, with a maximum duration of 25 minutes.
The fourteen films that have been selected as finalists were:
- Aïllament by Carlos Essmann (Spain, 2016, 0:13:00)
- Anónómalo, by Aitor Gutiérrez (Spain, 2014, 0:15:34)
- Arena, by Carlos Mora (Spain, 2016, 0:24:49)
- Bikini, by Óscar Bernàcer (Spain, 2014, 0:17:31)
- Border, by Paolo Zucca (Italy, 2016, 0:00:50)
- Calas Para Eva, by Ilune Díaz (Spain, 2016, 0:14:20)
- Dentro, by Daniel Amar and Cayetano González (Spain, 2016, 0:05:22)
- Eight Zero Eight by Alexandre Mello (Brazil, 2014, 0:05:14)
- Empathy, by Víctor Claramunt (Spain, 2015, 0:04:30)
- Formas De Jugar, by Gemma Blasco (Spain, 2015, 0:10:50)
- Restart, by Olga Osorio (Spain, 2015, 0:14:58)
- The Darkness Keeper, by Rodrigo Atiénzar (Spain, 2016, 0:18:41)
- The Devil On Your Back, by Haritz Zubillaga (Spain, 2015, 0:05:16)
- Un Lugar, by Iván Fernández de Córdoba (Spain, 2016, 0:12:00)
The finalists will compete for the following categories and prizes:
- HISPASAT Award for Best Short Film: 3,000 euros + Samsung SUHD TV.
- Cine365 Film Award for Best Director: Opportunity to direct a feature film.
- Samsung SUHD Jury Prize: 1,000 euros + Samsung SUHD TV.
- Dolby Award for Best Sound: 1,000 euros + Dolby ATMOS mastering, in collaboration with Ad Hoc Studios.
- RTVE Award for Best Short Film From a Film Academy: 1,000 euros + broadcast of the winning film on the program “Versión española”.
- Fuji film/SGO Award for Best Cinematography: 1,000 euros + Fujifilm professional photo camera
The jury responsible for determining the winners is made up of film director Fernando Colomo (La isla bonita, Al sur de Granada), producer Adrián Guerra (Palmeras en la nieve, Buried), filmmaker Paula Ortiz (La novia, De tu ventana a la mía), Jesús Ulled (Director of CINE365 Film), Yolanda Vicente (Content Expert at Samsung España), Guillermo Niño (Senior Manager for Broadcast, OTT and Home Video at Dolby Laboratories), Edith Martínez Odriozola (Director of Culture and Society at TVE), Miguel Ángel Doncel (CEO at SGO), Daniel Pérez (Product Manager for the Optical Devices, Photo Imaging and Recording Media Divisions at Fujifilm) and Javier Valdés (founding partner of Ad Hoc Studios). Ignacio Sanchis (Business Director at HISPASAT) will act as president of the jury.
This year, the HISPASAT 4K International Festival has become a sponsor of the San Sebastián Film Festival. The six winning films were announced during the closing ceremony, on September, 20 at the TABAKALERA International Center for Contemporary Culture. During this event, the audience viewed the winning films screened in 4K, as well as a preview of the documentary “Museo Reina Sofía: sueños, píxeles y…artistas en torno al arte moderno”, produced by TVE with this innovative technology that brings out all the detail of the Museum’s works of art. Entry to the event is free, and seating is first-come, first-served.
In addition, the workshop “Cinema and technology. The challenges of shooting in 4K format” took place on September 20 at 11:00 am in room 9 of Kursaal. In this workshop, representatives from technology companies debate with those from the world of cinema on the opportunities and challenges offered by this new Ultra High Definition standard for film production.
This second edition of the HISPASAT 4K International Festival includes other new additions. Two new awards have been added: the Cine365 Best Director Award, which grants the winner the opportunity to direct a feature film, produced by Cine365 in 2017, and the Samsung SUHD Jury Prize, which is sponsored by the new range of Samsung SUHD televisions.
...and the winners are...
- HISPASAT Award for Best Short Film: Anómalo, by Aitor Gutiérrez (Spain, 2014, 0:15:34)
- Cine365 Film Award for Best Director: The devil on your back, by Haritz Zubillaga (Spain, 2015, 0:05:16)
- Samsung SUHD Jury Prize: Un lugar, by Iván Fernández de Córdoba (Spain, 2016, 0:12:00)
- Dolby Award for Best Sound: The darkness keeper, by Rodrigo Atiénzar (Spain, 2016, 0:18:41)
- RTVE Award for Best Short Film From a Film Academy:Calas para Eva, by Ilune Díaz (Spain, 2016, 0:14:20)
- Fujifilm/SGO Award for Best Cinematography Empathy, by Víctor Claramunt (Spain, 2015, 0:04:30)
During the event, HISPASAT CEO Carlos Espinós highlighted the technological progress that has resulted from High Dynamic Range (HDR), which enables a broader luminance range to be reproduced so as to obtain a higher level of detail, more brightness, greater contrast and more color, and thus achieve greater realism.
The six winning films were announced during the closing ceremony on September 20 at the TABAKALERA International Center for Contemporary Culture in San Sebastián.
The Spanish satellite communications operator and leader in the distribution of content in Spanish and Portuguese, HISPASAT, organized the international festival with the goal of promoting the creation and screening of audiovisual content recorded in 4K, the latest technological revolution in the audiovisual sector, with the goal of making it available as soon as possible to film and television viewers.
The competition is sponsored by the production house Cine365 Film, Samsung and Dolby Laboratories. Other cutting-edge technology companies in the film production sector such as SGO, Fujifilm and the sound studio Ad Hoc, as well as RTVE, the most innovative TV station in this field of technology in Spain, and graphic communications agency Azento de Diseño, have joined the effort to make this one-of-a-kind festival possible.