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24 MAYO
01 JUNIO

2024

The 15th edition of FCAT closes with a significant increase in audience numbers and a widespread international impact

This edition has seen a huge rise in the number of weekly passes sold for the festival screenings and an increase in audience numbers attending the parallel activities

Media outlets from more than thirty countries reported on the most widely renowned African film festival in the Spanish-speaking world

Tarifa, 23rd May 2018. The 15th edition of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (FCAT), held from 27th April to 5th May in both cities, with extensions in Puerto de Santa María, the Parque de los Toruños in Cádiz and the Moroccan city of Tetouan, saw a 20% increase in audience numbers for both the film screenings and parallel activities organised during the festival. Meanwhile, the number of weekly passes sold for the festival’s film screenings increased by 150% during the 2018 edition of FCAT.

“The festival was very well received by the public, with audiences impressed by the quality of the films and of the retrospective of the work of Moroccan director Ahmed Bouanani”, explained Mane Cisneros, director of FCAT, who highlighted the spaces for meeting and discussion between Afrodescendant actors and actress and African and diaspora directors, “which provided us with the most intense emotions and greatest satisfaction of this edition”, as well as the “multiplication” of venues and the “affectionate, participatory” welcome from several Tarifan associations.Mane Cisneros, director of FCAT“The festival was very well received by the public, with audiences impressed by the quality of the films and of the retrospective of the work of Moroccan director Ahmed Bouanani”, explained
Other statistics from FCAT 2018 include more than 1,000 spectators at the flamenco shows, theatre plays and concerts, 4,000 visits to the three exhibitions open during the festival, almost 7,000 school children who participated in the Learning Space, both in Cádiz and in Tangier and Tetouan, and almost 1,000 attendees in Tangier and at the FCAT extensions. “After three editions warming up since the festival returned to Tarifa, we can now talk about the creation of a team made up of renowned artists and cultural managers, who will manage FCAT in Tangier from 2019, seeking to replicate the model established by FCAT Tarifa”, Cisneros announced.
For the director, several moments of the 15th edition of FCAT stand out: “the trip to Tangier by the Afrodescendant filmmakers and actors; the magic of flamenco dancer Yinka Esi surrounded by a spellbound audience at Tarifa’s market hall; the success of the participation by the public and schoolchildren; the closing ceremony and the participation of the Municipal Music School alongside a choir accompanied by Cameroonian storyteller Boni Ofogo”.


International impact

More than 200 media outlets from 30 different countries reported on the 15th edition of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival. The festival was covered in numerous countries in Africa, in both the written press and audiovisual outlets, including Morocco, South Africa, Chad, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, Zambia, Egypt, Cameroon, Sudan, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Conakry, and Benin, as well as in international and pan-African media sources. In the Arab world, including Palestine, Iraq, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, and in western countries such as Italy, France, Portugal, the United States and the British Virgin Islands, the most significant African film festival in the Spanish-speaking world was also featured.

Meanwhile, the festival was extensively covered by the Spanish press, with daily reports in the country’s main media outlets, critiques of the competition films and reports on both the filmmakers attending the festival in Tarifa and Tangier and on the content of films which touched upon topical subjects such as feminism or political activism in African countries.

In total, more than 600 reports on the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival have appeared in media outlets all over the world.

Social media

The heartbeat of the festival was reflected in real time on social media, as was all the relevant information about the festival. The number of followers on Instagram doubled, new followers joined daily on Twitter, and the number of interactions on the latter increased.

With regard to Facebook, the audiovisual content was the most widely consumed by the network’s audience, with more than 27,000 plays of the videos from the festival and clips from the films in the different sections.

Future

With regard to the challenges for 2019, with the date for the 16th edition of FCAT already set for 26th April to 4th May, the director of this cross-border cultural event points to the “consolidation of FCAT in Tangier”, as well as “restoring the Industry Space, the participation of young people of different nationalities in training sessions, an increase in the number of films from non-Francophone African countries”, and finally, “the consolidation of the presence of Afrodescendants at FCAT, and greater emphasis on non-cinematographic events”.

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