FEST kicks off today in Espinho with 250 films and 40 internationally renowned trainers

The 21st edition of FEST – Festival New Directors, New Cinema kicks off today in Espinho, presenting 80 films in competition, 170 in various screening sections and a training programme with around 40 top professionals. Until June 29, the event in the Aveiro district and Porto Metropolitan Area will allow us to analyze what the director of the event, Fernando Vasquez, considers “the giant leap” that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made in world cinema in the space of just one year and the predominance of housing as a predominant theme in Portuguese production works – increasingly influenced by the techniques introduced by foreign filmmakers living in Portugal. The international socio-political panorama is also reflected in the 2025 edition, as is customary at the festival, and in this regard, three works from the competitive section stand out, starting with “Mad bills to pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”, which, highlighted as “one of the great American films of 2025 and destined for the Oscars”, uses the directing style of Joel Alfonso Vargas to tell how an unplanned pregnancy affects a Dominican family living in the United States. The other two works are “Lesson Learned”, in which the Hungarian Bálint Szimler explores the environment of a high school to reflect on the education system after 15 years of government by Viktor Órban, and “Happy Holidays”, in which the Palestinian Scandar Copti uses “an intimate and humanist perspective” to expose the difficulties that families with origins identical to his face daily when living in Israel, where they are subject to a “specific legal regime”. These choices are joined by “Spring Came On Laughing”, by Noha Adel, about the hidden lives of Egyptian women; “The Good Sister”, by Sarah Miro Fischer, about gender violence and family dilemmas; and “Cactus Pears”, by Rohan Kanawade, who debuts with an LGBTQIA+ love story in India. Regarding the national competition, dominated by plots related to housing issues, Fernando Vasquez highlights “First Date”, the first film directed by Luís Filipe Borges, better known as a television presenter, and “Arriba Beach”, in which the Indian director Nishchaya Gera, resident in Portugal, signs “the first Portuguese erotic thriller, with LGBT connotations” and starring Inês Herédia. In terms of panoramas, the focus is on Georgian cinema as an instrument of political resistance, which is why FEST proposes a program of short and feature films by authors such as Rusudan Glurijdze, Elene Mikaberidze and Tornike Koplatadze – who represent a generation of filmmakers distinguished “by their formal boldness and commitment to the present”.

As for the Training Ground program, aimed at professionals and students in the sector, it will feature 'masterclasses' by speakers such as: the Spaniard Lucas Ortiz Estefanell, an expert in immersive cinema; the British Martin Percy, awarded for his use of AI; the Iranian Kaveh Farnam, who will teach ways to circumvent censorship when filming in countries with oppressive political regimes; the Filipino Brillante Mendoza, who will give a class on guerrilla cinema; the French Phillipe Rousselot, a cinematographer used to working with Tim Burton; and the British Chris King, an expert in editing documentaries such as those in which he evoked Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Banksy.

The 21st edition of FEST – Festival New Directors, New Cinema kicks off today in Espinho, presenting 80 films in competition, 170 in various screening sections and a training programme with around 40 top professionals. Until June 29, the event in the Aveiro district and Porto Metropolitan Area will allow us to analyze what the director of the event, Fernando Vasquez, considers “the giant leap” that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made in world cinema in the space of just one year and the predominance of housing as a predominant theme in Portuguese production works – increasingly influenced by the techniques introduced by foreign filmmakers living in Portugal. The international socio-political panorama is also reflected in the 2025 edition, as is customary at the festival, and in this regard, three works from the competitive section stand out, starting with “Mad bills to pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”, which, highlighted as “one of the great American films of 2025 and destined for the Oscars”, uses the directing style of Joel Alfonso Vargas to tell how an unplanned pregnancy affects a Dominican family living in the United States. The other two works are “Lesson Learned”, in which the Hungarian Bálint Szimler explores the environment of a high school to reflect on the education system after 15 years of government by Viktor Órban, and “Happy Holidays”, in which the Palestinian Scandar Copti uses “an intimate and humanist perspective” to expose the difficulties that families with origins identical to his face daily when living in Israel, where they are subject to a “specific legal regime”. These choices are joined by “Spring Came On Laughing”, by Noha Adel, about the hidden lives of Egyptian women; “The Good Sister”, by Sarah Miro Fischer, about gender violence and family dilemmas; and “Cactus Pears”, by Rohan Kanawade, who debuts with an LGBTQIA+ love story in India. Regarding the national competition, dominated by plots related to housing issues, Fernando Vasquez highlights “First Date”, the first film directed by Luís Filipe Borges, better known as a television presenter, and “Arriba Beach”, in which the Indian director Nishchaya Gera, resident in Portugal, signs “the first Portuguese erotic thriller, with LGBT connotations” and starring Inês Herédia. In terms of panoramas, the focus is on Georgian cinema as an instrument of political resistance, which is why FEST proposes a program of short and feature films by authors such as Rusudan Glurijdze, Elene Mikaberidze and Tornike Koplatadze – who represent a generation of filmmakers distinguished “by their formal boldness and commitment to the present”.

As for the Training Ground program, aimed at professionals and students in the sector, it will feature 'masterclasses' by speakers such as: the Spaniard Lucas Ortiz Estefanell, an expert in immersive cinema; the British Martin Percy, awarded for his use of AI; the Iranian Kaveh Farnam, who will teach ways to circumvent censorship when filming in countries with oppressive political regimes; the Filipino Brillante Mendoza, who will give a class on guerrilla cinema; the French Phillipe Rousselot, a cinematographer used to working with Tim Burton; and the British Chris King, an expert in editing documentaries such as those in which he evoked Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Banksy.

The 21st edition of FEST – Festival New Directors, New Cinema kicks off today in Espinho, presenting 80 films in competition, 170 in various screening sections and a training programme with around 40 top professionals. Until June 29, the event in the Aveiro district and Porto Metropolitan Area will allow us to analyze what the director of the event, Fernando Vasquez, considers “the giant leap” that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made in world cinema in the space of just one year and the predominance of housing as a predominant theme in Portuguese production works – increasingly influenced by the techniques introduced by foreign filmmakers living in Portugal. The international socio-political panorama is also reflected in the 2025 edition, as is customary at the festival, and in this regard, three works from the competitive section stand out, starting with “Mad bills to pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”, which, highlighted as “one of the great American films of 2025 and destined for the Oscars”, uses the directing style of Joel Alfonso Vargas to tell how an unplanned pregnancy affects a Dominican family living in the United States. The other two works are “Lesson Learned”, in which the Hungarian Bálint Szimler explores the environment of a high school to reflect on the education system after 15 years of government by Viktor Órban, and “Happy Holidays”, in which the Palestinian Scandar Copti uses “an intimate and humanist perspective” to expose the difficulties that families with origins identical to his face daily when living in Israel, where they are subject to a “specific legal regime”. These choices are joined by “Spring Came On Laughing”, by Noha Adel, about the hidden lives of Egyptian women; “The Good Sister”, by Sarah Miro Fischer, about gender violence and family dilemmas; and “Cactus Pears”, by Rohan Kanawade, who debuts with an LGBTQIA+ love story in India. Regarding the national competition, dominated by plots related to housing issues, Fernando Vasquez highlights “First Date”, the first film directed by Luís Filipe Borges, better known as a television presenter, and “Arriba Beach”, in which the Indian director Nishchaya Gera, resident in Portugal, signs “the first Portuguese erotic thriller, with LGBT connotations” and starring Inês Herédia. In terms of panoramas, the focus is on Georgian cinema as an instrument of political resistance, which is why FEST proposes a program of short and feature films by authors such as Rusudan Glurijdze, Elene Mikaberidze and Tornike Koplatadze – who represent a generation of filmmakers distinguished “by their formal boldness and commitment to the present”.

As for the Training Ground program, aimed at professionals and students in the sector, it will feature 'masterclasses' by speakers such as: the Spaniard Lucas Ortiz Estefanell, an expert in immersive cinema; the British Martin Percy, awarded for his use of AI; the Iranian Kaveh Farnam, who will teach ways to circumvent censorship when filming in countries with oppressive political regimes; the Filipino Brillante Mendoza, who will give a class on guerrilla cinema; the French Phillipe Rousselot, a cinematographer used to working with Tim Burton; and the British Chris King, an expert in editing documentaries such as those in which he evoked Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Banksy.