Those responsible for the Cadiz event make a positive balance of this first edition, whose red carpet has been walked by 300 personalities from the audiovisual world.
South International Series Festival comes to an end today with the presentation of the audience awards, which have gone to
Entrevías
in the Official Fiction Section and to
Macarena
in the Official Non-Fiction Section. This was announced by the festival’s director, Joan Álvarez, and the president of the event’s organizing committee, José Carlos Conde, who celebrated the successful conclusion of the event.
“We have covered all the objectives and we are already studying the needs for 2024,” said Álvarez. Among these objectives, he added, was to make “a festival for the public, which has exceeded all our expectations, even though in the last three days we were unable to hold the red carpet as a sign of mourning for Monday’s accident”.
The South director also emphasized the festival’s dedication to the industry, with the participation of 120 speakers and more than 3,000 attendees at this specific program. “It was about opening visions, markets, contacts with the audience, and we have achieved this with the presence of emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Dominican Republic or Israel,” as well as other consolidated markets such as India.
For his part, Conde thanked the collaboration of the City of Cadiz and Diputación, as well as the massive response of the media: “The attention of the press has been as if we already had their confidence, when this was an edition to earn it. He also highlighted the benefits of the festival for Cádiz, as “an important filming location for the industry. The festival will have a very positive impact on the local, provincial and Andalusian ecosystem”.
Public awards
At the same event, the South 2023 audience awards were collected by journalist Laia Portaceli, representing Movistar Plus and Producciones del Barrio, for
Macarena
the series about the global success of Los del Río, whom he defined as “two super-funny artists”, in the Official Non-Fiction Section. And Michelle Calvó and Felipe Londoño, who took to the stage to collect the South Award in the Official Fiction Section for Entrevías. “It is an honor to collect this award on behalf of a team that has become a family,” said Calvó. “We’re especially pleased that it’s the audience award, which is who we made this series for.” Londoño, for his part, celebrated the recognition of a series “that has been one of the most successful nationally and internationally”.
South Series, in figures
With a budget of 2.9 million euros, the first edition of the South International Series Festival has brought together some of the most notable exponents of the audiovisual sector from twenty countries at the Palacio de Congresos of the capital of Cadiz for seven intense days. Some 300 personalities from this field have walked the red carpet, among them some as well known as Luis Tosar, José Coronado, María Galiana, Adriana Ozores, Álex García, Los del Río, and international celebrities such as the Italian Daniele Liotti, the Argentine Armando Bó or the French-Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko.
The South’s technical team was made up of a hundred people, twice as many if service personnel are included, and the number of accreditations reached 3,248. As for the public response, in the absence of definitive figures, half of the theaters have hung the “no tickets available” sign, while the rest have recorded an average occupancy rate of 80%.
South International Series Festival is a private initiative sponsored by the Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía, co-financed with European funds, Ayuntamiento de Cádiz, Diputación de Cádiz, and the participation of Mediaset España as main media sponsor. Also collaborating in this first edition are Movistar Plus+, Spain Film Commission, Fundación SGAE, Fundación Bancaria Unicaja and Canal Sur.
