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Mac Chakaveh, the festival director, explains, ‘The idea [of the festival] is to cut out the big corporations and the red tape. You can bring your film or your art here and have access to individual funders and investors. It’s support for artisans in a way that’s rare nowadays.’
Birgit Kolath, a local artist, says, ‘It’s great to be exhibiting at no cost in a supportive, gentle atmosphere. The main venue for exhibitions in Marbella is the Congress Hall, and I could not afford the exorbitant prices they charge us to show there.’ Visual artists have already sold their work and have also received offers to show in galleries elsewhere.
The inaugural Film Festival attracted 500 submissions, of which 40 features, documentaries, shorts and animations made the final screening list. Film producer Maureen Murray says, ‘Marbella, unlike other festivals, does not insist on us delivering a print for submission, so this is a fantastic way of getting independent films seen and overcoming the distribution block.’ Three films, including one from Iran, have now found distributors.
Girl-group manager Caroline Stevens has chosen Marbella to showcase the new girl band My Girls, after quietly nurturing them over the past few months away from reality TV and a media circus. ‘This event is what we have worked for. We want quality, voice and choreography,’ she says. A deal is imminent, it is believed.
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