The Huelva Film Festival closes the edition of its return to attendance with more than 40,000 spectators | Heconomia.es - Economic and business information of Huelva

The Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival closed its 47th edition on November 19 with a remarkable response from the public due to the return to theaters and face-to-face visits, the main novelty of this edition of the Huelva event after having had to be held exclusively online in 2020.

In this way, the 110 titles screened in their different sections between November 12 and 19 have yielded a total figure that exceeds 40,000 spectators, between the face-to-face sessions in the Gran Teatro and in the Aqualon cinemas and the online section that has continued open this year thanks to the collaboration with Filmin, which has allowed a greater projection abroad, thanks to the fact that part of the programming has been seen on that platform. In addition, it is necessary to note the global figure of more than 200,000 spectators reached with Ventana Cinéfila, a joint activity of Profestivales21 (between the festivals of Malaga, Seville, Seminci and Huelva).

The director of the Huelva Festival, Manuel H. Martín, has shown his satisfaction with the number of spectators that have been higher than those of the 45th edition, the last one that was held in person. "Despite not being a year of numbers and the fact that we have not had the same screenings or venues as in the 45th edition or with the schoolchildren in our cinemas, we are very happy with the response from the public, to whom we thank them for their support. , especially this year; a support that confirms the Festival model we have been working on since 2016, a utility model for the industry and for the city”.

In this sense, he highlighted that 84 percent of the budget for the 47th edition of the Festival, currently estimated at around 400,000 euros, has had direct repercussions on companies and professionals in Huelva, while the remaining 16 percent allocated to the film industry (awards to films and filmmakers, projection fee expenses, film projector equipment, etc.).

“We can feel very satisfied with the effort made by the Festival team, in a particularly complicated year, for everything that the return to face-to-face attendance and screening rooms implied, even with the pandemic not eradicated and with a complex scenario for the income and sponsorships, we have felt the affection of everyone, from the public, to the collaborating entities or the media”, said Martín.

The director of the Festival has also remarked that the support of the public has also been transferred to the program of the contest itself, whose Official Competition Section has obtained a score of 7.14 in the votes that the spectators make in the theaters after the projections. "In addition to meeting other objectives, at a Festival it is essential to take care of the big-screen cinema programming and that it be well valued by our audience", he assured. Thus, the Huelva Festival has premiered 13 titles from its official section in Spain, in addition to having a world premiere, productions that have triumphed at prestigious international festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Toronto or Busan.

El Festival de Cine de Huelva cierra la edición de su vuelta a la presencialidad con más de 40.000 espectadores | Heconomia.es - Información económica y empresarial de Huelva

"The Festival team is already working on the 48th edition with the good feelings that 47 has left us, in which both the spectators and the local, national and international media have once again given us their support", he said. the director of the Huelva contest.

Media coverageIt is worth noting the notable media coverage achieved by the 47th edition of the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival with more than 3,800 appearances in local, regional, national and international media, in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Colombia , among others.

These data released in the media, together with the outstanding presence of the Festival on its social networks, where it continues to grow exponentially, produced an impact in terms of potential audience of more than 210 million people, most of it from the digital press, with a not insignificant accumulated audience of 143 million people thanks to mentions in important national and international newspapers.

As for the data in terms of Equivalent Advertising Value (EVE), the entire media impact of the 47th edition amounts to almost 5 million euros (specifically, 4,812,529 euros), largely due to the significant impact on the digital press , televisions and national and international radios.

Regarding the Festival's website, www.festicinehuelva.com, it has registered a total of 114,167 visits from January 1, 2021 to November 19, a figure higher than that of the last edition.

Among the most outstanding milestones of the 47th edition, the director of the contest has highlighted, apart from the return to attendance, "the quality of the programming and the honorees" (the City of Huelva Award to Fernando Trueba, and the Awards Luz a Salva Reina and Teresa Segura and David Sainz), as well as the jury of the Official Section.

Manuel H. Martín has referred to the "quality and usefulness" of the numerous professional meetings that have been held during the Festival, which have made the Huelva event the "home" of the Andalusian and national film industry for a few days thanks to the presence of numerous directors, producers, actors, actresses and screenwriters, as well as directors of other national festivals.

Among the main data, it should be noted that for the 47th edition a total of 1,300 productions were received, and 110 titles from twenty countries have been screened between the Gran Teatro, the Aqualon cinemas and the Filmin platform. With regard to the global programming, Manuel H. Martín has also emphasized "the commitment to equality" of the Festival's programming, since, in the global programming of the event, 50% have been titles directed by women and another 50% for men. This data must be contrasted with the number of entries received, since of the 1,300 titles received, only 20% were directed by women, "so the effort of this Festival is also clear to support the work of female filmmakers and give them all possible visibility.

The 47th edition has also had a total of 241 accredited, between professionals and the press. For the organization of the event, the Festival team has confirmed its commitment to environmental sustainability, "reducing paper production to a minimum, as well as emissions thanks to the fleet of official hybrid and electric vehicles".

Martín wanted to thank all the people and institutions that have made it possible for the 47th edition of the Huelva Festival to be held successfully, especially "the event team, the people from Huelva and the Board of Trustees" of the Ibero-American Film Festival Foundation of Huelva, made up of the Huelva City Council, the Ministry of Culture and Historical Heritage of the Junta de Andalucía, the ICAA-Ministry of Culture and the Huelva Provincial Council. In addition, he expressed his gratitude to the official collaborator of the event, the Atlantic Copper Foundation, "for its clear and firm commitment to our Festival", as well as to all the collaborating entities that have been part of the great family of the 47th edition: the Port Authority of Huelva, Autogotransa, Aguas de Huelva, the University of Huelva, the International University of Andalusia (UNIA), Goya Awards, Filmin, Canal Sur Radio and Television, Radio Exterior de España, Huelva Television, Acción Cultural Española AC/E (in the Visitors category of the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture, PICE), Caja Rural del Sur Foundation, SGAE Foundation, AISGE Foundation, Fiacine (Ibero-American Federation of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences), El Corte Inglés and Aqualon.