Cinda Real on tour (updated)

We are very happy to announce that our reimagining of the Cinderella fairy tale has been recognised and selected to be screened at some exciting festivals and in many local kindergartens. From our own country to the other side of the world, our modern day Cinderella continues to teach love and empathy to diverse audiences.

FESTIVALS

Durban Indie Film Festival, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, November 2023 | Award Winner: the Durban Indie Film Festival, organized by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, is Africa’s prominent film festival. Established in 1979, it is the region’s oldest and largest film festival, featuring over 100 screenings, including premieres. DIFF not only provides a platform for film screenings but also conducts workshops, seminars, and outreach events, including screenings in underserved areas. The festival serves as a networking opportunity for filmmakers, attracting local and international industry stakeholders and introducing global cinematic treasures to enrich the South African audience’s experience.

Jakarta Independent Film Festival, Jakarta, Indonesia, November 2023: the Jakarta Independent Film Festival, located in the heart of Jakarta, Indonesia, welcomes independent filmmakers from all over the world. The festival aims to showcase diverse stories in various genres and styles, highlighting the creativity and talent of independent filmmakers. Organized by HF Productions’ Indonesian branch, the festival’s mission is to provide support and recognition for emerging talents and independent filmmakers, promoting their work based on their skills and passion, while addressing the challenges of the competitive industry.

Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival, Niksic, Montenegro, October 2023 / Athens, Greece, December 2023: Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival is organized by the non-profit organization Balkans Beyond Borders, committed to fostering youth mobility and cooperation in the Balkans through the art of short filmmaking and visual storytelling. Their mission is to encourage dialogue, interaction, and innovative learning among young people in the region, with the aim of contributing to a brighter future and the Europeanization of the Balkans. BBB focuses on improving collaboration between local festivals, film centers, and workshops to create an efficient inter-Balkan network that promotes the work of young artists from the region and beyond, along with the rich culture and diversity of the Balkans to a global audience. Founded in 2010, BBB’s team has grown, and their activities now extend throughout the Balkans and beyond, with a dedicated group of volunteers and ambassadors supporting their mission.

Roshan Rahain Film Festival, Lahore, Pakistan, October 2023: Roshan Rahain Film Festival is a Youth Film Festival, hosted by Roshan Rahain in collaboration with Canon Pakistan and festival partners, which aims to promote photography culture and provide a platform for Pakistan’s youth to improve their confidence and social skills through filmmaking. Launched in May 2017, the festival includes free filmmaking workshops and involves renowned filmmakers and documentarians, with judges such as Mr. Nisar Malik, Mr. Hasan Zaidi, Mr. Nasir Khan, and Mr. Yasir Nisar. The festival strives to harness the potential of Pakistan’s youth and empower them to express themselves through film.

Golden art international film festival, September 2023  | Award Winner

Nawada International Film Festival, Nawada, Bihar, India, August 2023 | Award Winner: Nawada International Film Festival is an annual event held from July to August 15th. the festival’s primary mission is to showcase outstanding films from around the world and provide them with a prominent platform in India, emphasizing social change and women empowerment through impactful cinema while supporting emerging talent and fostering connections within the industry.

Supertoon Festival, Šibenik, Croatia, July 2023 | side program: the Supertoon International Animation and Comic Festival specializes in short animated films and authorial comic book editions, and takes place every summer in the Adriatic city of Šibenik. Supertoon offers filmmakers, comics authors, and students of filmmaking a creative platform to network, engage in discussions, attend workshops, and foster potential collaborations, while also promoting animation workshops for kids and young adults.

Zenkoji Omotesando Summer Festival, Nagano, Japan, July 2023: The Zenkoji Omotesando Summer Festival in Nagano, Japan, has its origins in the construction of the Zenkoji Temple in 1707. During this period, craftsmen and builders stayed in Nagano, and it is believed that they left behind the portable shrines used in the town. These shrines were initially part of various festivals but had declined over time. However, with the 1998 Nagano Olympics, efforts were made to preserve and revive this mikoshi culture, leading to the creation of the Zenkoji Omotesando Summer Festival.

KIDS FIRST! Film Festival: Since 2000, the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival offers a showcase for short and feature films from major studios, independent producers and student filmmakers. The festival partners with more than 48 venues worldwide that host screenings of KIDS FIRST! curated films year-round. These venues include established film festivals such as the Beloit International Film Festival and the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s KIDS FIRST! Film Festival as well as children’s museums, nonprofit film centers, schools and other local organizations that showcase films at daily, weekly or monthly screenings.

The International Film Festival for Children and Youth KINOLUB, Poland, June 2023: KINOLUB is an international film festival organized since the year 2015 by the IKS Foundation in the cities of Southern Poland – including small villages, where the screenings are held in local cultural institutions. The focus is also set on film education and that is the event’s unique and important feature, which is developed as well in other endeavors run by the Foundation. Most of all, KINOLUB is a celebration of films produced for children and youth. Each year in June different cities offer festival screenings to audiences between 4 and 18 years of age.

Tokyo Shorts, Tokyo, Japan, May 2023 | Best Women Empowerment Film: Tokyo Shorts is an online award-based bi-monthly festival. The mission of the festival is to bring international independent short film to the widest possible audience in Japan and beyond. The Festival aims to provide a cultural alternative to the commercial film experience, to support independent filmmakers, and promote the art of filmmaking and its related disciplines. The Tokyo Shorts was established to utilise the power of film to further the goal of inter-cultural understanding among nations and to assist in the building of a shared artistic experience.

Shanghai International Short Week, Sahnghai, China, 5-7 May 2023: the Shanghai International Short Week is an international art exhibition of creative short films, an Internet community platform for young creators to show their talents, improve themselves, advance their careers, find partners, share their lives and gather their ideas.

Washington Film Awards, Washington, USA, May 2023 | semi-finalist: the Washington Film Awards is a unique seasonal virtual film competition. It attracts both strong companies and talented new filmmakers and is an unparalleled, truly international awards competition rather than a traditional film festival, allowing filmmakers from all over the world to submit their films to this prestigious competition.

The HER Vision Film Festival, New York, USA, May 2023 | semi-finalist: the HER Vision Film Festival is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of women and female-identifying directors, writers, editors, producers. It also welcomes and encourages filmmakers from the LGBTQ community and male directors who present a script or film that portrays a woman in a particular role or depicts the difficult situations faced by women or members of the LGBTQ community. The festival organised two free screenings at the Pearl River, New York Public Library on March 23rd and 24th from 6 to 8 pm.

International Festival Entr’2 Marches, Cannes, France, May 2023: the International Festival Entr’2 Marches values people with disabilities through film works, presenting feature films, shorts, reportages, documentaries, animations, and amateur works. The festival aims to represent all kinds of lives of people with disabilities.

Kodaikanal Film Festival, Tamil Nadu, India, April 2023 | Special Jury Award: The Kodaikanal Film Festival offers a distinctive model focused on supporting filmmakers at the submission stage to advance their careers in the film industry. They aim to provide global exposure and connections with industry professionals, including press coverage, sales agents, distributors, and production companies, for filmmakers from around the world.

Bharatha Desam International Film Festival, India, April 2023

International Film Festival of Bahrain, Bahrain, April 2023: The International Film Festival of Bahrain aims to promote and celebrate international cinema by showcasing a diverse range of films from around the world.

New York International Women Festival, New York, USA, March 2023 | semi-finalist: The New York International Women Festival is a competitive festival that celebrates women filmmakers and their unique perspectives. It also highlights the stylistic and fashion elements in cinema, emphasizing the significance of camera work, set design, and artistic contributions to the art of filmmaking. The festival operates on a seasonal structure, with private reviews by judges and the promotion of winning projects on social media.

Kuala Lumpur Global Film Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2023 | award winner: the Kuala Lumpur Global Festival

Dallas Shorts, online, USA, March 2023 | Awarded “Best Animation Short”: Dallas Shorts is an annual online event that aims to recognize the important role shorts have in cinema, storytelling, and culture. It focuses on the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the intuitive, the innovative, the minimalistic and the true artists of our time. Being an online festival, the festival aims to screen as many films as possible.

Palm Island International Film Festival, Dubai, UAE, March 2023 | Awarded “Best Children Short Film”: the Palm Island International Film Festival is a popular film festival in the Gulf States and aims to provide a communication platform for new and upcoming filmmakers in the UAE and worldwide. The festival aims to discover new filmmakers and foster cultural exchanges through film.

Tamizhagam International Film Festival, Tamil Nadu, India, March 2023 | Awarded “Best Animated Film”: the Tamizhagam International Film Festival showcases top films from international filmmakers and new talents from around the world. Their mission is to discover high-quality and ambitious films, promote the work of filmmakers and help them realise their dreams.

Courage Film Festival, Berlin, Germany, 27 March 2023: the Courage Film Festival is aimed at all the filmmakers and screenwriters who use their work to take a stand and fight for what they believe is right. The festival welcomes films and screenplays that fight for good causes and portray the struggles and adversity that people and groups face when trying to bring about positive change and influence in a world where you sometimes have to shout in order to make yourself heard.

Vancouver Movie Awards, Vancoucer, Canada, February 2023 | semi-finalist: Vancouver Movie Awards is a festival founded to support and promote independent short and feature films from all around the world. The festival is held seasonally and its program reflects the diversity and opportunities within the film industry with the goal to show films that the audience would otherwise have not seen, and leave a lasting impact.

Newport Beach Shorts, Newport Beach, California, US, February 2023 | semi-finalist: New Port Beach Short festival is created to promote independent filmmaking from all around the world. The festival is a meeting point for filmmakers, a source of inspiration and new knowledge for experts, students and cinema lovers. It is based on a seasonal structure; every season the festival selects winners in every category from the pool of entries.

AniMate Australia Animation Film Festival, Sydney, NSW, Australia, January 2023 | semi-finalist: AniMate is an International Animation Film Festival and a growing community of Animation lovers, professionals and film makers. AniMate welcomes all animation film entries.

Indo Singapore Film Festival, December 2022 | Awarded “Best Children’s Short Film”: Indo Singapore Film Festival is an international monthly online film festival promoting films from around the world.

Chicago Filmmaker Awards, Chixago, US, December 2022 | semi-finalist: the mission of the Chicago Filmmaker Awards, aka Cifawards, is to recognize and reward independent filmmakers that are currently missing in mainstream Hollywood. The Chicago Filmmaker Awards is a seasonal awards event with yearly live screening. Each season, it will select the best-known movies and promote the winners through social media and the official website. Few of the best of each season will be invited to the Live Event in Chicago.

Dallas Movie Awards Festival, Dallas, Texas, US, December 2022 | semi-finalist: the Dallas Movie Awards is an international bi-monthly online film festival which puts the spotlight on short films – a category that unfortunately doesn’t get the mainstream attention it deserves. The festival want to promote films that pay special attention to represent an alternative vision of reality.

Rohip International Film, Kallal, Tamil Nadu, India, December 2022 | Award winner: Rohip International Film is a monthly festival with a unique model that offers real opportunities to filmmakers from the moment they apply. The aim of the festival is to help filmmakers in their careers in the film industry – to showcase their work worldwide, to present it to journalists, to sales agents, distributors, global production companies, talent agencies and global producers. The festival welcomes works from all over the world.

Paris Women Festival, Paris, France, November 2022 | Awarded “Best short Animation”: Paris Women Festival is an online seasonal competitive festival dedicated to female gaze in cinema. This festival celebrates the unique and innovative perspectives of women filmmakers, as well as projects by non-female directors who have something important to say about womanhood.

Bastau IFF, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 29 November-3 December 2022: Bastau International Student and Debut Film Festival aims to develop the international cooperation and a cultural exchange between young filmmakers from all around the world. The festival, whose motto is “New Generation Cinema”, takes place in the biggest southern city of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in the very heart of the ancient Silk Way – the city of Almaty, which became a unique cultural bridge between West and East.

Animateka, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 28 November 2022: Animateka is an international festival focusing on high-quality original animation. Each year it presents highlights of short animated films from Central and Eastern Europe, the most original European student films, and a programme of carefully selected international films for children and teenagers. Audiences of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy a rich film programme and a wealth of events such as talks with filmmakers, masterclasses, roundtables, regional pitching (all part of the industry-focused AnimatekaPRO platform), workshops, exhibitions, concerts and informal gatherings.

Luleå International Film Festival, Luleå, Sweden, November 2022 | awarded “Best Animated Film” in monthly competition: Luleå International Film Festival is a monthly and annual film event, and it is the first appropriate film festival of its kind in the beautiful city of Luleå, Sweden. The aim is to promote and encourage short, feature, and documentary films from across the world by allowing them to showcase themselves here.

SEIZE THE FILM!, Rijeka, Croatia, 15 November 2022: after winning the Best Animated Film award at this year’s festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, Cinda Real will also be screened in Rijeka, Croatia. The SEIZE THE FILM! film festival, which has been held in Novi Sad (Serbia) since 2003, in Rijeka (Croatia) since 2011, in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) since 2017 and in Kotor (Montenegro) since 2018, includes screenings of international films about disability, and the lives and achievements of people living with such.

Japan World Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan, 12 November 2022: Japan World Film Festival celebrates world cinema, art, and culture. The festival runs in three venues and cities in Japan (Tokyo, Nagano, Ibaraki), giving the selected filmmakers ever wider exposure. Cinda Real will be screened in Ibaraki, the biggest venue at this year’s festival.

Festival of Slovenian Film, Porotrož, Slovenia, 28 October 2022: the Festival of Slovenian Film Portorož is a cultural and industry event that brings together filmmakers, the professional community, business partners, and enthusiasts. It is an annual gathering where the latest feature, medium-length and short fiction, documentary, animated, and experimental films are screened over six consecutive days.

TOFUZI, Batumi, Georgia, 24-29 October 2022: the International festival of animated films TOFUZI encourages the exchange of creative experience between Georgian and foreign artists, a search of new ideas, styles and technologies as well as the integration of Georgian animation into the global cinema process. The festival seeks to bring animation as an attractive sort of culture to the children of those regions of Georgia where any cultural events are very rare.

Cinekid, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 21 October 2022: Cinekid Festival is the largest children’s media festival in the world. Children aged between 3 and 14 years can watch new, unusual and striking films and television productions and meet their creators. They also get a chance to explore the MediaLab: a playful area filled with interactive art installations, workshops, games and apps. Cinekid for Professionals, an international multi-day event for the children’s media industry, also runs during the Cinekid Festival.

SEIZE THE FILM!, Novi Sad, Serbia, 13 October 2022 | awarded “Best Animated Film”: the SEIZE THE FILM! film festival includes screenings of international films about disability, and the lives and achievements of people living with such. It also offers various programmes, such as film workshops, discussions with filmmakers and actors, exhibitions, performances, etc., in which people with disabilities participate. The festival has been held in Novi Sad (Serbia) since 2003, in Rijeka (Croatia) since 2011, in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) since 2017 and in Kotor (Montenegro) since 2018.

Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift, Toronto, Canada, October 2022 | awarded “Best Short Kid/Family” in monthly competition: the Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift was established in Toronto in 2015. It is a seasonal celebration of the best of short and long feature films in contemporary cinema. The festival aims to bring the most acclaimed Internationally produced short and long films of the year to Toronto’s screens in an effort to present a comprehensive cross-section of talents and showcase the depth and diversity of cinema.

Out of Bounds, Molfetta, Italy, 29 September 2022: Out of Bounds is an international short-film festival based in Barletta in the region of Puglia. The open-air festival is run by filmmakers and focuses on showcasing the best independent artists and encouraging all aspects of independent filmmaking, seeking the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the insightful, the innovative and the real.

Sarajevo Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 16 August 2022: established in 1995, the Sarajevo Film Festival is the leading film festival in the region, recognized by both film professionals and a wider audience. Cinda Real will be screened within the programme of Feature, Documentary and Fiction Films from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Animafest Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, 8 & 9 June 2022: established in 1972, the World Festival of Animated Films – Animafest Zagreb is the second oldest film festival in the world completely dedicated to animation. The festival is held in every year in early June and has been, alongside festivals in Annecy, Ottawa and Hiroshima, a part of the obligatory circuit in the animation community’s calendar. Animafest’s Grand Prix winners directly qualify for the Academy Award and the European Animation Award.

OTHER SCREENINGS

Kindergarten screenings, Slovenia, October 2022: Cinda Real was rolled out in eight kindergartens in the Prlekija region in Slovenia:

• Veržej kindergarten, 4 October 2022
• Križevci kindergarten, 4 October 2022
• Gornja Radgona kindergarten, 5 October 2022
• Radenci kindergarten, 6 October 2022
• Apače-Stogovci kindergarten, 6 October 2022
• Razkrižje kindergarten, 7 October 2022
• Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici kindergarten, 7 October 2022
• Kapela kindergarten, 20 October 2022

Park Theatre, Murska Sobota, Slovenia, 19 June 2022: the Slovenian premiere of Cinda Real was held in front of a packed audience at the Park Theater in Murska Sobota, where the whole project started, including the young co-authors, their parents and grandparents. The premiere was organized in collaboration with the Centre for Culture, Sports and Tourism of Murska Sobota and the DaVinci Café and Patisserie.

We can’t wait to hear the feedback from all these audiences. There will certainly be more news and screenings to come, so we will keep you posted.