European First Film Festival in Macao - enjoy three French films and meeting directors, co-organized by the European First Film Festival, Alliance Francaise de Macao, Macau Academy of Cinematic Arts of Macau University of Science and Technology, is held in D-hall of MUST on 30th Oct. King Wong, Head of the Sponsorship and Cooperation Department of Macao Foundation, Wong Gin Mou , Director Department of Research and Educational Resources of DSEJ, Ye Guo Hua, Program Manager of Social Cultural and Economic Division of TDM, Xavier Massé, Secretary General of the European First Film Festival, Eric Sautede, Vice President of the Board of Alliance Francaise de Macao, Director Thomas Salvador, Director Emma Benestan, Samantha Chiang Siu Ling, Director of Macau Academy of Cinematic Arts of Macau University of Science and Technology officiated the opening ceremony.
Founded in 1989, European First Film Festival is the oldest European film festival aiming to introduce new directors. The Festival presents many European first films each year, which are divided into six competitive sections-- European first feature and short film, French first feature and short films, student films and animated films as well as four non-competition sections. The Festival aims at introducing European first films, spotlighting film professionals, and promoting communication and cooperation of film culture.
Macau Academy of Cinematic Arts was established in 2014 as the first research institute of cinematic arts among higher education institutions in Macau. The Academy’s Dean is the famous director Jiang Wen. The Academy aims at establishing international platforms of “communication, research and service”, thus promoting integration and innovation of the Macau film industry and service chain, and achieving the transcending development of Macau’s cinematic arts research and film industry. The Academy will conduct long-term research in fields such as the application and innovation of cinematic technologies, financing management of film production, service and management of film production, film distribution, business incubator of film production, etc. The Academy plans to open Doctoral courses in film management in 2016, and will also launch cinematic arts research courses in the near future.
Through interaction with the European First Film Festival in Macao, the Macau Academy of Cinematic Arts of MUST disclosed that it establishes cooperation relationship with European First Film Festival, which confirmed that the European First Film Festival in Macao will be held at MUST regularly. The Academy will discuss academic research cooperation issues continuously to further promote European First Film Festival in Macau, providing dialogue between Macau high education institutes and filmmakers.
The event featured and screened three European first films. The first film, Vincent,directed and acted by Thomas Salvador, is one of his representative films. It is nominated for Audience Award of Angers European First Film Festival in 2015, Golden Gate Award of San Francisco International Film Festival in 2015, New Director’s Showcase Award of Seattle International Film Festival in 2015, Sydney Film Prize of Sydney Film Festival in 2015, and Competition 1-2 Award of Warsaw International Film Festival in 2014. The second short film, Beautiful Mouth, directed by Emma Benestan, won Best Actress Award of Angers European First Film Festival in 2015. The third short film, The Days Before,directed by Karim Moussaoui, won Special Mention of the Jury of Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2013,Jury Special Prize of Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film in 2013, César Awards of France in 2015, and Golden Pardino-Leopards of Tomorrow of Locarno International Film Festival in 2013.
After each screening, director Thomas Salvador of the film Vincentand director Emma Benestan of the film Beautiful Mouth, shared with the audience their valuable experiences in film and art creation in Q&A session.