Fano International Film Festival
This one takes place in Fano, Pesaro on the Adriatic coast, near Rimini (Federico Fellini's birthplace). This was the 18th edition of the festival and I have to say that while I did not stay as long as I did in Brno, I also saw some great works, but above all I fell in love with the venue of the festival: Il Teatro della Fortuna (http://www.comune.fano.ps.it/cultura/teatro/)... such a lovely theatre. Fano is also a lovely town and you get a kick of knowing that your work is seen in a place where beauty is all around, so again, it becomes a humbling and gratifying experience yet for a completely different reason. As for the films, this is not a shorts only festival; they have other works, retrospectives, etc. The New Life was shown twice, first as part of the international panorama and the following night as part of the films which had received a special mention from the jury. Italian, French (and a few Spanish) films tend to be predominant at Italian festivals and this one was no exception. The way the FFF works is a bit different to most festivals since they only screen the winners and recipients of mentions; so, it's not as big as Brno. They only pay one night of accommodation for the awards ceremony. However, they announce the presence of filmmakers prior the screening of the films. When it comes to rounds of applause no-one beats the Italian (it was even common to applaud when your plane landed but I see that the tradition is disappearing now), so it's always a great experience finding yourself in such a fantastic theatre and people giving a generous round of applause to your work. I had the pleasure of meeting the festival's director Fiorangelo Pucci, who did remember when Twitch was screened there. Like Visionaria in Siena, Fano is a festival that has been very kind with my works (particularly because both shorts received a jury's honourable mention over there). Here are some photos taken when I was there: