BALEARICS TO TAKE ON CANNES

By Humphrey Carter
THE Ibiza and Formentera International Film Festival is to be officially launched in London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Amsterdam and Berlin next month with the first edition to be held at the end of May next year. A pre-presentation of the festival was held in Ibiza yesterday with the aim of informing the local community of what the organising committee's intentions are and to attract private funding for the event which is going to become part of the European festival circuit, pulling in big names and productions from cinema all over the world On the organising committee are the Ibiza-based film maker Gail Fears who first came to Spain to work on the “Spaghetti Westerns” and today is an established film maker - last year she helped produce “It's All Gone Pete Tong” on Ibiza and is currently working on a number of scripts. The former assistant editor of the Evening Standard Nigel Griffiths is taking care of the international media and public relations. Yesterday he said that he is quietly confident that the Spring festival will become a major event on the European film festival calendar. The festival has already attracted a great deal of interest from some of the biggest names in cinema from all over the world “it's too early to name names, but Ibiza is such a good global brand name which is so well known in the media/fashion/film/music industries in the States and elsewhere that the island sells itself. “What is more, so many of the big industry players come to the island any way every summer. When we have the international launches next month, people will know what and where we are talking about,” Griffiths said. The festival, which will involve screenings in various parts of the island, will be split into six subsections, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Oceania and Asia, with several awards for each continent. There will be a special award going to one of the six finalists for best overall international film. The festival is also going to have sections dedicated to the world of music, video clips, soundtracks including a section for made for TV movies, TV series and commercials. “We want this to be a major festival event but not quite as hectic as Cannes, for example. We hope to attract the same kind of people but in a more relaxed Ibizan atmosphere,” Griffiths told the Bulletin yesterday. “Distributers, producers, directors, actors and actresses will be able to come here and put the final touches to deals and contracts struck at the previous European festivals,” he added. The ten-day festival intends to screen 500 films and have a capacity for 160'000 spectators. Festival spokesperson Xavier Benlloch said yesterday “the response from members of the industry on a world wide level has encouraged us to believe that the festival will be an enormous success.”