The Madagascourt Film Festival is one of the most important short film festivals on the African continent and the only film festival in Madagascar. Founded by director, screenwriter, and president of APASER, Laza Razanajatovo, in 2006, the festival will take place from July 5th to July 12th, 2024, in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
"The festival aims to showcase productions from Madagascar and promote talent from the African continent," Razanajatovo explains to AV CREATORS NEWS. Organized by the RFC Association "Madagascar Short Film Encounters" in collaboration with the French Institute of Madagascar (MFI), Rozifilm Animation, and APASER, it was born as a festival of Malagasy short films and after a few years became a festival dedicated to short films from the African continent.
Competitions and Categories
In the Festival, there are four categories competing for the Golden Cebu, the festival trophy:
- Pan-African Fiction Short Film Competition
- Pan-African Documentary Short Film Competition
- Pan-African Animation Short Film Competition
- National Competition, voted by the public (who can watch the films in national cinemas and on television channels).
For the other three competitions, there is a jury present in the room each year that votes for the best short film. In addition to these competitive sessions, there is a non-competitive session called À Chacun son Cinéma where films from around the world are selected.
"To enrich the festival, we have various screenings. Our historical partners are the Annecy Animation Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, and Off-Courts festivals, which organize short film sessions that are screened at each edition. We want to offer an international perspective on short film (Spanish, Swiss, Italian, Argentine, Canadian). We also have an alliance with the Afrocarioca Cinema Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a delegation that comes to Madagascar and presents a session of Afro-Brazilian films," details the festival founder.
The festival is entirely free, and each year there are national and international guests. With the aim of bringing cinema to the entire large red island, for some years now, in addition to the edition in the capital, they organize a second part in a province: the "Madagascourt on Tour" with outdoor film screenings, open on the beach if the location is by the sea.
Laza Razanajatovo asserts that "the festival is also an opportunity for cultural exchange and training through numerous workshops, art residencies, seminars, laboratories, conferences, exhibitions, cine-concerts, and the Atelier Ti'kino Gasy: an initiative launched 14 years ago by the Rencontres du Film Court association and the Off-Courts festival in Trouville, France, to present to young participants."
In the last two years, they have organized the Anim'ato Mada filmmaking training residency - a two-month program - in which they select 10 participants (5 women and 5 men) from across the African continent with teachers from Italy.
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