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Tortosa hosted the awards ceremony of the ninth travel and tourism film festival that attracted 209 works from 31 countries
Week-long festival boasted a dozen film, debate and chat sessions with directors and producers, as well as other film industry professionals and tourism players from around the world
Portugal’s Unwritten Recipe, a production of Casper Films, has taken home the Grand Prix at the Terres Travel Festival in Tortosa. The film showcases Portuguese gastronomy, starting from the idea that the country’s cuisine is a faithful reflection of its culture, where each meal tells a story and features a landscape that reveals the flavours of the land and sea. The award was announced this evening at the gala final dinner of the ninth travel and tourism film event which kicked off on 13 September and will end tomorrow, Saturday. The awards, presented by actor Ivana Miño at a ceremony held at the Racó de Mig Camí restaurant, drew over 150 professionals from the tourism film industry from around the world.
Portugal’s Unwritten Recipe
Other major prizes went to the documentary Renacer: Hopes & Journeys Colombia (Resurgence: Hopes & Journeys Colombia), directed by Gustavo Espíndola Cifuentes and produced by Sangria Films, which won the Terres de l’Ebre Prize for Best Film Promoting Sustainability. The documentary aims to explore post-war Colombia through a humane and sensitive viewpoint that is a far cry from clichés of violence and drug-trafficking. It tells the story of the people who, after experiencing a decades-long armed conflict, are now finding a way to reinvent their lives thanks to nature and tourism.
From Catalonia to Scandinavia, via Angola // The Prize for Best Catalan Production is a recognition of the vitality of Catalonia’s audiovisual output, particularly with regards travel. The winning film in this category was El meu avi va anar a Cuba. Viatge d’anada i tornada (My Grandpa Went to Cuba: A Return Trip) by Sergi Martí and Joan Salicrú, produced by Clack Audiovisual for La Xarxa. The documentary is about the Catalans who emigrated to Cuba at the turn of the twentieth century and sets out to seek their roots and backstories as an exercise in memory and identity. The award is sponsored by the Clúster Audiovisual de Catalunya, an organisation that groups together over 200 audiovisual sector businesses and institutions.
The Climent Ferré Prize for the Best Production with UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Values, promoted by the Terres de l’Ebre Environmental Policy Consortium (COPATE), went to Scandinavia – Into the Darkness by directors Mi-Yong Brehm and Verena Feige with production by Marco Polo Film. This film journeys through Finland, Norway and Sweden to show the ecological and cultural impacts of extreme seasonal changes, including the effects on wildlife, flora and local communities. The overarching aim is to look more deeply at the beauty and complexity of the Arctic region and to encourage conservation efforts for this fragile ecosystem.
Scandinavia, into the Darkness
The Prize for the Best Production Promoting Respect Between Cultures went to Angola – The Soul of Africa, directed by Jordi Llompart and produced by Gen Image Media. The documentary charts the recent history of some of the most extraordinary parts of Angola and reveals the wealth of the country’s social, cultural and environmental heritage.
Career recognition // The Terres Pioneers Prize on the night went to Pedro Machado, former president of Turismo Central de Portugal and currently the Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism. The aim of this prize was to showcase Machado’s career and his contribution to tourism development and international promotion, particularly his work at the helm of groundbreaking projects related to the Centro de Portugal brand that made it a benchmark of diversity, sustainability and creativity.
Terres Travel Experiences invites travel filmmakers the world over to discover Terres de l’Ebre
As part of the Terres Travel Festival, the company Terres Landscape and Travel Communication, a patron of the Festival, presented the first Terres Travel Experience – B2MTF, a five-day event combining tourism, creativity and professional networking. Travel content creators and a number of the festival’s finalists had the opportunity to engage in an immersive experience of the Ebre area and Barcelona, with activities that joined discovery of the land and contact with the local community. The program included events such as a grape harvest and tasting of Terra Alta wines, honey and Alfacs Bay mussel sampling, beachfront yoga classes and gastronomy experiences with local producers. Participants also enjoyed exclusive access to professional sessions and the Terres Travel Festival awards ceremony.
The aim of the Terres Travel Experience was to make Terres de l’Ebre a sustainable tourism and film lovers’ destination by producing audiovisual content that raises the area’s international profile. Participants also established links with local businesses and institutions. The activity was open to travel filmmakers from anywhere in the emerging or established world. “Our goal with the Terres Travel Experience is to show the world the creative and tourism potential of Terres de l’Ebre. The project combines inspiration, professional outreach and cultural immersion in a unique setting,” said project promoter Santi Valldepérez.
A sustainable festival with strong local roots
The Terres Travel Festival is not just an audiovisual event but an instrument of local promotion directly involving the local people, institutions and tourism industry. From Tortosa’s historical and cultural spaces to the local producers who partner with the gastronomic programming, the festival generates synergies that shore up the Terres de l’Ebre brand as a cultural and sustainable destination. This year the Festival was B Greenly certified as a sustainable event. Once parameters such as the space, mobility, environmental protection, water and energy consumption, food, waste, communication and carbon footprint and evaluation had been analysed, the Terres Travel Festival passed the standard required to certify the event as sustainable. Jointly organised by Terres & Landscape Travel Communication and Tortosa City Council, the Festival enjoys the support of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Tarragona Provincial Council and the Baix Ebre County Council.
