The 61st edition of the Gijon International Film Festival, celebrated between the 17th and 25th of November in 2023, screened 191 title exhibitions in 204 different sessions throughout Gijon through the exclusively offered cycles within the FILMIN portal. The combined number (both in person and online) of viewers and viewings of FICX in 2023 reached as much as 102,298, a dramatic increase from the 24,611 of the previous year. In terms of attendance, the 61st FICX reached an all time record of viewers, which in connection with the 2019 festival, solidifies an increase of 22% from the previous year.

FICX confirmed its support of filmmakers whose films have yet to prove commercial distribution in Spain, which starred in more than half of its premieres in Spain (with 15% of the premieres also being worldwide), completing the other unavoidable objectives of FIXC: to be the place that the most daring distributors of our country have the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of the year’s auteur and independent cinema for the following distribution at the state level. Added to this commitment is the implementation of four prizes that are specially intended for distribution. And of course, Divertia Gijón continues to support a complete program of activities for professionals (such as the VII edition of FICXPro) and a training laboratory for projects and films in production, SEMILLERU, which is already beginning to give more than appreciable results, such as the film The Remains of the Pass, by Luis (Soto) Muñoz Alfredo Picazo, which won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Section of the Tierres en Trance Competition, the AMAE Award for Best Editing of a Spanish Film, as well as a Special Mention from the Jury of Spanish cinema.

The number of screenings (co)directed by women awarded in the 61st Festival represents 53% of the total awards, the result of a commitment by FICX to female filmmakers, whose films made up 43% of the screenings within the different competitions of the Official Selection this year, and 52% of the total program. In the case of the classical section La Noche del Corto Español, all the works presented were by female directors. Likewise, the French director of photography Agnès Godard visited Gijón to receive the 2023 Honor Award and be the subject of a retrospective dedication to her work (made up exclusively of titles directed by women), which was joined by the one dedicated to the director and actress Elena Martín Gimeno (later nominated for the Goya for Best Director for Creatura, a candidate in three other categories as well) and the filmmaker couple composed of Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor. Also receiving accolades, Lilián de Celis, IV Isaac del Rivero, and Alicia Luna were granted the Comadre Film Award, organized in collaboration with La Tertulia Feminista Les Comadres.

As for the evaluation of the festival films by the spectators, up to 16 feature films released at the FICX obtained an average score above 8 points, and 35 of the selected works exceeded 7 points of rating by the festival audience.

Enfants Terribles, the section designated for primary and secondary school students that turned 25 in 2020, once again carefully selected qualified films for children and adolescent audiences, exceeded last year’s audience data by 12% in its screenings. This demonstrates that, despite turning 61, FICX continues to attract a young audience, both to the screenings and meetings with the people of the Festival, as well as to the FICXPro sessions and the SEMILLERU audiovisual laboratory organized by Divertia Gijón S.A. Those in collaboration with the Centro Integrado de Formación Profesional para la Comunicación, Imagen, y Sonido (CISLAN), whose students have returned to participate in the 61st edition of FICX actively. Added to this synergy is the growth of the line of youth bonds  (about 5-10 films) that the Festival put on sale for the first time in its history during the 59th edition and with which it has managed to go from 16 youth bonds sold in 2019 to 100 bonds bought by the youth public in 2021 since then over 200 youth bonds were issued in 2023.In regards to FIXCPlus, a stable program thanks to which the International Film Festival of Gijon/Xixon is one of the few Spanish competitions with actions in every month of the year, initiatives such as the classics recovered in 2022 by the Cine Club 50 (with the support of the Gijon Cultural Society), the collaboration with POEZ – Poetry in Xixon, FeLix – Xixon Book Fair, the Ye-Yé festival, FrantasticGijon or the more than 300 scheduled arthouse film screenings by the FICX and organized by Laboral Cinemateca in 25 Asturian councils.

In regards to FIXCPlus, a stable program thanks to which the International Film Festival of Gijon/Xixon is one of the few Spanish competitions with actions in every month of the year, initiatives such as the classics recovered in 2022 by the Cine Club 60 (with the support of the Gijon Cultural Society), the collaboration with POEZ – Poetry in Xixon, FeLix – Xixon Book Fair, the Ye-Yé festival, FrantasticGijon or the more than 300 scheduled arthouse film screenings by the FICX and organized by Laboral Cinemateca in 25 Asturian councils.

Transversal sustainability is already an increasingly demonstrated reality at the FICX through specific training plans for the Festival team, of practical measures that regulate the movements of people involved in the 60th edition to reduce the carbon footprint; the inclusion of sustainability criteria in the Festival’s public tenders; or the labor relations of the FICX with its workers. A growing sustainability that is also supported by our increasingly improved app, the ficx.tv portal, the online programming that, once again, the FICX offered in collaboration with the FILMIN platform, or the III Film Festival and Sustainability of Gijon/Xixon, held in September.

Another of the primary objectives of the FICX also offered palpable and valuable results for films: Collaboration networks with other competitions. In 2023, the Crossroads section, created in collaboration with the San Sebastián Festival, established itself as the third section of the FICX with a higher average audience, exceeding 200 spectators per session, and hanging the “no seats” sign in a good part of its projections. On the other hand, the current agreement with Zinebi has allowed several works to compete simultaneously in Bilbao and Gijón/Xixón, including the winner of Best Short Film, Blow!(Neus Ballús), later nominated for the 2024 Goya Awards.

In international collaborations, it is worth highlighting the presence of FICX as Guest of Honor at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Festival for the second time in its history. In addition, FICX presented several projects in the form of works-in-progress together with ZINEBI this year at Cannes Docs, in an action organized and financed by ICEX Spain Exportation and Investment and the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA). . Through the Europa Film Festivals network, the FICX presented the EFF – Young Europe award, worth €3,000, to the Asturian filmmaker Elisa Cepedal ( El cine, 5 ). At the state level, in 2023, the FICX added new collaborators such as AMAE (Association of Audiovisual Editors of Spain), which sponsored an Award for Best Editing, or the REC Tarragona Festival. At the local level, synergies such as that of the Philharmonic Society were added from Gijón.

The Gijon-based event received €120,000 in state funding in 2023, the highest amount in its history, positioning itself as the Spanish Festival of its call that will receive the greatest support from the ICAA – Ministry of Culture this year, which represents 20 % more funding compared to 2022, and 122% more since 2017. The FICX is also the only Festival in Spain in its call that has achieved funding from the Creative Europe MEDIA Program for 2023 and 2024. The project prepared by the FICX has once again received one of the highest scores in the European Union and thus ensured a contribution of €110,000 for the subsequent two editions.

SUMMARY OF DATA AND MILESTONES OF THE 61 FICX

• The FICX continues to be one of the six Spanish competitions recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Associations of Film Producers), along with San Sebastián, Zinebi, Sitges, Cinema Jove, and Mostra de Valencia.

• The international short film competition of the FICX Official Selection is a qualifier for the Goya Awards of the Spanish Academy and the Oscar Awards of the American Academy.

• Films that passed through the 61st FICX nominated for the 2024 Goya Awards: Creatura (Elena Martín Gimeno), Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet), Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger), The Sultana’s Dream (Isabel Herguera) and Blow! (Neús Ballús). Five titles add up to eleven nominations in total.

• 840,000 spectators took part in all FICX activities (in-person and online) throughout 2023, a record number in the event’s history.
• The financial contribution allocated to the Festival by the ICAA – Ministry of Culture of Spain has been the highest in the entire history of the FICX for the fifth consecutive year.

• The FICX is a founding member of the Europa Film Festivals network (EFF – europafilmfestivals.eu) along with competitions such as those in Hamburg, Galway, Belfast, Reykjavík, Bordeaux, Athens, Luxembourg or Genoa.

• The FICX is the only event in our country with a stable collaboration with the San Sebastián Festival through the Crossroads label.

• In 2023, personalities such as Michael Winterbottom, Catherine Breillat, Miguel Gomes, Giacomo Abbruzzese, Fien Troch, Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor, Mira Fornay, Pascal Cervo, Agnès Godard, Stephan Komandarev, Lisandro Alonso, Sofía Quirós, Albert Serra, Ado passed through Gijón Arrieta, Marian Álvarez, Eneko Sagardoy, Ingrid García-Jonsson, Nora Navas, Núria Prims, Augusto M. Torres, Virginia García del Pino, Vicente Molina Foix, Pilar Palomero, Ion de Sosa, Marta Lallana, Ángel Santos, Elena Martín Gimeno, Javier Macipe, María Gisèle Royo, Neus Ballús, Alicia Luna, Irati Gorostidi, Anxos Fazáns, Andrea Jaurrieta, Ada Solomon, Ilinca Manolache or Léa Drucker, to name just a few.

• In addition to receiving support from local and regional media, 61 FICX was reviewed in 2023 by media such as El País, El Mundo, La Razón, El Cultural, Mondosonoro, 20 Minutos, Eldiario.es, EFE Nacional, Europa Press, TVE (News, Movie Days), Canal 24 Horas, RNE (Mid-morning, The mornings of Radio Nacional, Whatever the Late), Cadena SER (News, Today Gijón, Let’s Live It’s Two Days Gijón, La Ventana), Onda Cero (More than two Gijón, Informative, Julia en la Onda), Radio 3 (Everything begins today, Make it look like an accident, Three on the road, Pink Fluid). As for the specialized press, magazines such as Fotogramas, Cinemanía, Caimán, Dirigido por, Otro Cines Europa or Kinótica have covered the FICX, and international media such as Variety, Cahiers du Cinéma (France), Cineuropa, So Film, Coolt, La Nación or Perfil.