Audiovisual Communication 4th year students had the opportunity to present their short film, Nice to Meet You [Encantado de conocerte], directed by Maddi Sánchez, in which students Miquel Cozzarín, Camila Fernández-Cruz, Javier Sáez, Sandra Siles and Xiao Verdeguer also worked. “I think going to Sitges and knowing they are aware of us is already a big step,” Maddie Sánchez said. Nominated in the New Author Category in Sitges, her short film explains the story of a boy who works in a coffee shop and tries to sort out how to get the attention of a client who is deaf.

Pablo Ruzafa, 3rd year student in Audiovisual Communication, was in Sitges for the entire festival as a member of the Diari del Festival press team, for which he wrote three reviews and also made three video reviews with the collaboration of Alex Solergibert. “The best thing about Sitges was being able to see the impressive work of filmmakers from all over the world who don’t have the support from the big distributors,” Ruzafa explained.

He was able to talk with Italian film director, producer and screenwriter Dario Argento and interview actor José Sacristán and actress Marta Nieto. “The interview with Marta Nieto was the first interview I had ever done and it was a very satisfying experience. She was very friendly and participative and also gave me very elaborate and interesting answers,” the student said.

“An unforgettable experience”

Bruno Romero, a 4th year Audiovisual Communication student, had an internship at the festival since June. He received and classified all the material as it arrived for both national and international films. “When the Festival began, it was the best internship of all: an unforgettable experience. I was helping in several departments and I was able to see how each position worked. I was delighted to be able to attend the press conference with the directors and actors to hearing everything they had to say about the film,” he said.

Oscar Sueiro, technician in charge of Digital Media Studios has covered the Sitges Film Festival as a film critic since 2003. He has written for various online media outlets and, for the past four years, has written the daily posts on the El Pájaro Burlón Facebook page, a film website that he and his colleagues closed, and he works now in the publishing world.
In this edition, along with his collegues at El Pájaro Burlón, Sueiro presented a collection of books The Occult in Films [El ocultismo en el cine], from the Dilatando Mentes publishing house. They have published three volumes and are working on the next deliveries.

Violeta Kovacsics, professor of the Fundamentals of Audiovisual Art in the 2nd year of the bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication, participated as head of publications and as part of the jury. In addition, the students in her class had the opportunity to attend the festival for a day.

Eloy Calvo, head of Filmmaking this academic year, has worked as head of the Public Relations Department, coordinating and managing the participation of guests and creative teams associated with the films scheduled during for the different events of the festival: presentations, photocalls, red carpets, awards, Q&A, press conferences, etc. His department has also been in charge of managing the presence of national distributors linked to scheduled films and checking professional accreditations.

Participating in the SITGES International Fantasy and Horror Festival of Cinema has been an unforgettable experience for both teachers and students alike.