The Consell de Formentera reports the Formentera Film Festival 2021 will take place between Wednesday 12 and Sunday 16 May. 8.30pm screenings will be staged at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) from Wednesday to Friday, followed by an awards ceremony/gala on Saturday evening and, Sunday afternoon, the official children’s selection. Admission at all screenings is free of charge, with limited seating but no need to book in advance.

News that this year’s Formentera Film would be fully in-person comes as other festivals have remained exclusively online affairs. FF directors Monica Timperi, Silvio Bandinelli, Viviana Carlet and Carlo Migotto say the face-to-face format was “very important”: “Formentera is the reason this festival exists. The event was conceived mainly for islanders, young people, kids and tourists who visit the island before the start of summer”.

The historically off-season event is backed by the Formentera Department of Culture and Office of Tourism. FF’s aim, says Consell de Formentera premiere and tourism chief Alejandra Ferrer, is to “give the island and our visitors something extra. FF activities, namely the contest of shorts, documentaries and video art, are about enriching the local cultural scene and improving the experience of our visitors”. Ferrer described “the symbiosis between Formentera Film and the island’s youth, who are increasingly involved in the all-ages event”.

Official selection
8.30pm screenings of official selections will take place 12–14 May: twenty-two international shorts, including two from the Balearic Islands, span fiction, documentary film and animation. The complete programme can be found at https://www.formenterafilm.com.

Xenia Fuertes and Viviana Carlet are FF’s 2021 presenters. Sitting for screenings of their shorts will be Laia Foguet (director, Ca nostra), Miguel Parra (director, (A)normal) and Toni Payeras (director of photography, Ulisses). Pilar Aldea will attend the ExtraFest screening of her short film Edèn, scheduled Wednesday 12 May.

Awards ceremony
The FF awards gala will be held the evening of Saturday 15 May. Among the seven local artists participating in the gala are veteran FF collaborators Enric Majoral, Lorenzo Pepe, Sol Courrèges Boné and Andrés Rodríguez, plus newcomers Raquel Caramazana Bocanegra, Fran Lucas Simón and Simona Colzi.

Kids’ selection
FF’s children’s selection will be screened at 6.00pm, Sunday 16 May. Filmmakers Aitor Herrero (Toc), Laura Perissinotto (Dinosaur in the garden) and Marcos Martín Muñoz (Morgan, la orca valiente) will be on hand as well, with winners announced from 8.00pm.

Jury of four women and one man
Àngela Bosch is an executive member of the European Film Academy. Actress and creator Vicka Duran helms Con Fest and directed the short film Entrar en el armario (ExtraFest screening: evening of 13 May). Irene Moray is a photographer and the director of Suc de síndria (winner of Gaudí for ‘Best Short Film’ and Goya ‘Best Fictional Short’—ExtraFest screening: evening of 15 May). Cris Wiegandt is an award-winning director and animation designer. Carlos Bover directed the FF2019 audience pick, the documentary Gaza.

Youth collaboration
FF’s commitment to Formentera youth continues in 2021. On 1 May, the island’s youth drop-in centre provided the backdrop for a screening of seven submissions to this year’s FF Youth, not to mention the premiere of a street dance video produced by FF and Casal de Joves. And on 12 and 13 May, FF will invite year-two ESO and baccalaureate students at IES Marc Ferrer to two online conferences.

Formentera resident Frederic Córdoba Shwanemberg and David Diéguez Redondo will lead the conferences. The two are associates of KOTOC, creator of the famous GORMITI. “Creating and telling stories has taught us to fight for our dreams”, they say, “and transmitting that passion is what drives us day-in day-out, project after project. KOTOC started out in 2006 and grew out of the desire to create and tell stories. Since then, the team has specialised in creating and producing intellectual property”.

Gathering of professionals
From 11.30am on Friday 14 May, Formentera’s Centre d’Esports Nàutics will host a professional meeting to be attended by various festival directors.

FF2021 receives additional support from Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics (Govern balear), Casal de Joves, Lago Film Fest, Mediterránea Pitiusa, MotoRent Pujols, Proauto rent a car, Flipper, Can Toni, Save Posidonia Project and Ràdio Illa.

10 May 2019
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Consell de Formentera premiere Alejandra Ferrer was joined today in press conference by Josep Marí Ribas and Maria Antònia Font, the Balearic government’s mobility and housing minister and director-general of health and consumer affairs, respectively, to review new measures linked to the covid-19 public health crisis.

Ferrer described the island’s current epidemiological situation as “favourable”, highlighting “zero active cases and zero new infections in the last 14 days”. She pointed to a number of measures that would soon be relaxed as a result, but indicated de-escalation would be slow, “so the island can make it to summer in good stead. The priority is our residents’ welfare.”

Measures
With the island still in tier 1 of public health alert, the following restrictions will be in place for two weeks starting Sunday 9 May:
-Maximum six people (no limit on number of households) at outdoor get-togethers and family gatherings. Maximum six people from two households at indoor gatherings.
-Curfew from 11.00pm to 6.00am.
-Normal capacity at shops provided safe distancing measures can be respected. Closure by 10.00pm.

Another important change: eateries with outdoor seating are no longer required to close between 6.00pm and 8.00pm; these establishments can operate until 10.30pm. Rules are as follows:
-Indoor service must stop at 5.00pm on weekdays (Monday to Friday) and 6.00pm on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays).
-Outdoor service must stop at 10.30pm (Monday to Sunday).

Controls unchanged
President Ferrer also stressed the importance of controls on arriving travellers, which she said would continue for two more weeks and perhaps all summer if possible. Ferrer said current collaboration between the Consell, local business and the regional administration sought to offer competitively-priced PCR testing locally and she reiterated an earlier request that figures concerning infected visitors and residents be counted separately “so accumulated incidence isn’t impacted and protocol isn’t changed on account of visitors who have already left”. “And the Govern balear must work with individual island councils on a roadmap for measures, protocols and timelines that people and businesses will respect in summer”, she said.

On Formentera’s currently auspicious state of affairs, “It’s thanks to the responsibility of islanders and our businesses”, Ferrer said. She added, “We know people are tired, but they’ve continued to follow the rules”. The island's top-ranking official also called on islanders to answer vaccination calls with a “yes”: “It is crucial we all get immunised — for our safety and for the safety of those around us.”

For his part, the regional mobility and housing chief acknowledged improvements and Formentera’s praiseworthy case count of zero while insisting on a message of “prudence and prevention”. “We won’t be able to relax until the virus has been eradicated”, he said, and encouraged islanders to get vaccinated.

As for the director-general, “Formentera is the island with the best situation today”, she affirmed, citing data from the Health and Epidemiology Service of the Directorate General of Public Health and Participation. Two weeks have passed since Formentera’s last case was reported, meanwhile, Eivissa, Mallorca and Menorca wade through a weekslong crunch and report outbreaks of the more transmissible and now predominant British variant. As of 6 May, 3,071 vaccine doses have been administered, 2,320 islanders have received a single dose and 751 have received both doses.

7 May 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera