Festival for laughter

First, it was the Mayor of Portimão who announced the creation of movie studios in his municipality. Now, it’s the turn of Albufeira to show that they’re taking the 7th art seriously.

From next Friday, the square at Praia dos Pescadores will be decked out with a gigantic screen, measuring 12 metres high by 6 metres wide, along with 1.000 chairs, a 200 square metre VIP tent and a team of 20 technicians (for assembling/ dissembling, sound, light, projection) and 10 hostesses to liaise with the public.

Idealised by aficionados and professionals of the cinematographic world, «FICH!» aspires to present all forms of humour within an 8-day period – a selection of feature length films and short films, of fiction and animation.

According to Carlos Fraga, the new festival’s director “the public will have the opportunity to see films which don’t reach the traditional circuit. We’ve made a selection of films that have a bottom-line message – not just films to make people laugh – as we see humour as a way of bringing people’s attention to things that are actually serious”, he explains.

The organisation, responsibility of the «Mediterrar» association, has invited a number of national and international personalities to the event, all of them connected with humour: José de Pina, Luís Galvão Telles, ZeZé Gambôa, Jacques Mer, Ana Bustorff, Nilton and Pierre Étaix – and who will award prizes for the Best Feature-length Film, the Best Short Film, the Best Animated Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Although this year there won’t be any cash prizes, it’s the first step, according to Fraga for an event of that “in future hopes to be one of reference for the cinema of humour”.

Rui Unas, a presenter and actor connected to the world of comedy, agreed to be “special master-of-ceremonies” because he believes “that this festival could become a meeting point for actors, producers and the public” interested in comedy and humour.

“In recent years, there’ve been a lot of films produced in Portugal – though not many have been based on humour”, laments Unas, who recently hosted a show on radio’s «Antena 3», talent-spotting for up-and-coming artists in the field of humour.

In this context, the festival aims to involve the entire Portuguese community connected with humour, as well as some well-known international names.

Thus, this first festival is dedicated to Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. There’ll be a cycle of his best-known films screened, as well as a public tribute. And Jones will be presiding in a round table debate, with the theme “O Humor é Sério” (Is Humour Serious?) on 11th July at Albufeira’s Grande Real Santa Eulália, at 5.30pm.