Go Global Office of Global Engagement

Portugal – FEST Film Festival

FIPR 469 or CINE 434 | 3 credits

Program overview

This course is led by William Brown & Mila Zuo, Faculty of Arts

  • Course dates: May 13 – July 2, 2024 
  • Travel dates:  June 22-June 29 (tentative) 
  • Format: In-person 
  • Locations visited:  Vancouver and Espinho, Portugal 
  • Approximate program fee: $1200 (Go Global fee, course tuition, flights are not included) 
  • Funding available (click through to learn more about each award) 
    • ARA (qualifying Arts students only) 
    • Go Global Award (non-ARA qualifying students) 
    • Global Pathfinder Award 
      • Students selected for multiple awards will receive the one that is worth more. The awards do not stack. 

Information Session Recording Available: 

https://ubc.zoom.us/rec/share/FGGM-1uCrFQaGt2eqC_TntThgh2Ko444bG5k-y2i-xGPow-QluvpGnSrisLdt_d8.DWOAX1pemAs4hWIt

Passcode: 6S7KKMg?

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Apply by December 5, 2023

 Application instructions here

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About the course                                                                                                             

This program comprises two courses, CINE434 and FIPR469, that allow students to use the Fest Film Festival in Espinho, Portugal, as a springboard for studying the importance of film festivals in the contemporary ecology of cinema - both as a medium for study and as an industry in which to work. 

For film studies students, CINE434 presents an opportunity to study the machinations and organization of a real-world film festival, while for FIPR students this presents an opportunity to program and to show their original work. Both of these opportunities are embedded within courses that allow students to study the theory and practice of contemporary and historical film festivals, which themselves play a key role in global film culture, as well as in the careers of any aspiring filmmaker. Both courses combine a scholarly approach with an emphasis on employability, allowing students to consider the history and present, as well as the politics, of programming and curation.  

Students will benefit from Fest’s Training Ground, a unique series of masterclasses by leading film practitioners, while also creating a global network of peers via interactions with other festival-goers. 

Program eligibility  
General Global Seminar requirements

To participate in a Global Seminar, students must: 

  • Be in good-standing in their faculty (as defined by home faculty)  
  • In the year leading up to the Global Seminar, have full-time student status (as defined by home faculty)    
  • Have completed 2nd year requirements before the start of the program (i.e. 3rd or 4th year standing)  
  • Have at least a 70% academic average in your last full-time academic session before applying    
  • Maintain a 70% academic average leading up to the program  
  • Meet any program specific requirements listed below including pre-requisites before participating 
Specific requirements
  • This is an interdisciplinary program – all are welcome 

Final selection will be done by the lead faculty program directors. Spots in the program may be limited. 

Students who wish to participate in the summer after graduating may be eligible on a case-by-case basis.

Experience and conditions in the Field

In Vancouver, students will attend 6 lectures and seminars in order learn more about the history and theory of film festivals, study films, prepare, and get to know one another.  

Once in Espinho, students will each day attend not just film screenings, but also masterclasses, workshops and other events involving leading professionals from the world of film and media (see below for a list of recent workshops). In addition to the regular Fest program, students will have the opportunity to attend guest lectures from various experts and leaders in the industry. In 2023, FIPR469 students also created and held their own sidebar screening of films. Further to this, students will be able to attend the Pitching Forum to see hopeful filmmakers pitching to professionals (they can also apply to take part in this if they meet the pre-festival deadline, but acceptance is not guaranteed since this is a professional pitching forum). At the festival’s Directors’ Hub, Industry Meetings and Networking Dinners, students will also be able to talk with the visiting filmmakers as well as numerous others. There will also be a screening of films by UBC students in the Filmmakers’ Corner during the festival. Students can expect to have activities from 10am – 8pm while in Espinho. 

Masterclasses in 2023 were held by: Carlos Reygadas (Director, Battle In Heaven, Our Time); Brenda Chapman (Director, Brave); Claudia Llosa (Director, The Milk of Sorrow, Aloft); Lone Scherfig (Director, An Education, The Riot Club); Noomi Rapace (Actor, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo); Tomas Eskilsson (Producer, Another Round, The Worst Person in the World); Polly Duval (Producer, Notes on a Scandal, Brooklyn); Peter Straughan (Screenwriter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Frank, The Men Who Stare at Goats); Pete Travis (Director, Vantage Point, Dredd); Jo Monteiro (Casting director); Caprice Crawford (Acting Manager); Melody London (Editor, Heart of a Dog, Risk, Down By Law); Inbal Weinberg (Production Designer, Suspiria, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri); Kle Savidge (Music Supervisor, House of Gucci, Tombraider); Scandar Copti (Director, Ajami); Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Editor, The Favourite, The Lobster, Dogtooth);  Eddy Joseph (Sound Editor, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, United 93);  Marc Boucrot (Editor/Colorist, Enter The Void, Wild, Irreversible); Nancy Bishop (Casting Director, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol); Paul Miller (Producer, Lone Star, Snow Angels); Tristin Norwell (Composer, Killing Eve, ’71); Rui Poças (Cinematographer, Tabu, Zama, Frankie);Rodrigo Areias (Producer, 3x3D, Listen); Nuno Lopes (Actor, São Jorge, Great Yarmouth); Markus Linde (Co-founder of Europe in Synch); Ainhoa González Sanchiz (Head of Creative Europe); Ilinca Neagu (Producer, Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father; Amaia Remírez (Producer, Another Day of Life, Maldita); Gonçalo Galvão Teles (Screenwriter, A Suspeita, Gelo); Jessica Ask (Head of Production, Film i Väst); John Rogerson (Sound Engineer, David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef, Galapagos)

Accommodations

There are various options/possibilities for accommodation, but the aim, subject to confirmation, is for students to stay in shared apartments at the Hotel Apartamentos Solverde in Espinho, Portugal. Should students wish to stay elsewhere, they are welcome independently to arrange their accommodation. 

Program fee and other costs
Approximate program fee: $1200*

*The final fee depends on the number of students in the seminar. All Global Seminars only run if there is a minimum number of students enrolled.  

Program fees include:
  • Accommodations and breakfast
  • Festival program pass (all films, workshops, master-classes, dinners)
  • Program- related travel in-country; (e.g. buses) 
Additional costs not Included in the program fee:  
  • Go Global Fee ($415)
  • Flights 
  • UBC tuition for credits   
  • Visa/country entrance fees   
  • Health or travel insurance  
  • Most meals 
  • Personal spending money*   

* Some examples of personal costs included: mobile communication, personal transportation that is not related to the learning outcomes of the program, additional meals that are not already identified as part of the Program Fee, immunizations, Visas, etc.  

Arts Research Abroad (ARA) Funding 

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This seminar is an Arts Research Abroad (ARA) course. ARA courses will provide an award which will cover up to 50% of the program fee and flights for eligible students. In cases of demonstrated financial need (determined by Enrolment Services), ARA may fund up to 100% of the program fee and flights. 

All eligible Arts students selected for this program will be automatically considered for the award. No additional award application is required.

Eligibility for Arts Research Abroad (ARA) funding:

  • Undergraduate Faculty of Arts students (students from other faculties are not eligible for ARA funding, but may still participate in the program)
  • Selected for this program
  • Students who have student loans and non-repayable bursaries may qualify for 100% ARA funding

For example, assuming a $1700 program fee: 

  • Students who qualify for 50% ARA funding will have program fee reduced from $1700 to $850. In addition, you will receive an award equal to 50% of the estimated flight cost, or $1000, whichever is more.
  • Students who qualify for 100% ARA funding will not be charged the program fee, and will receive a cash award equal to the estimated cost of the flight between Vancouver and the program country.

Typically, students will need to pay for the flight first and will receive the award during in the summer term.

Program participants who are not eligible for ARA will be charged the full program fee and receive a $1000 Go Global Award.

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