Fauna wins 30th CineEco, an edition marked by the launch of the film market

March 25, 2025

The 30th edition of CineEco marks a historic moment for the Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival.

During nine days of intense programming, the festival stood out as an essential meeting point between cinema and environmental causes, offering a diverse program and promoting a space for debate and learning, with the creation of a film market, a space that connected film school students with experienced producers. As well as helping to promote ecological awareness, CineEco highlighted the Serra da Estrela as an environmentally sustainable destination, reinforcing its commitment to environmental cinema and reflection on the future of the planet over three decades.

This edition consolidated the transformation begun last year, which established Cineeco as a festival entirely dedicated to cinema, and also paved the way for the celebration of 30 years of existence in 2025, a continuous and uninterrupted journey since 1995.

The 30th edition marks the birth of Encontros do Mercado, an initiative of CineEco, which is a space for students and players in the Portuguese film market to meet and network. It aims to bring film school students closer to experienced film producers and to encourage new projects by laying the foundations for new creations. The producers were very receptive to the projects presented by the students and made valuable contributions, which was a great experience for the students, who left with suggestions and recommendations that could be decisive for the development of their short films. In this first edition of the film market , 6 production companies took part , 4 educational institutions with 10 films/projects. The initiative was considered a success and there is a clear intention to move forward with a second edition.

The festival serves as a space for reflection and debate on environmental issues, not only between filmmakers and producers, but also between researchers, students and the general public. The festival continues to bring together different audiences: the local community, who have the opportunity to watch works beyond the commercial circuit, and visitors from abroad, interested in environmentally-themed films and in exploring the Serra da Estrela. This edition celebrated the convergence of different generations and sensibilities through competitive sessions, special screenings, exhibition cycles, concerts, debates and walks.

This year, 15 directors were present at CineEco, as well as a number of other people connected to the films on show and the other activities on the program.

The winners of the 30th edition are now known, an edition that screened 64 cinematographic works from 27 countries, selected from over 1800 films submitted to the competition.

The international feature film Fauna directed by Pau Faus (Spain) is the winner of the “Grand Prize for the Environment” at CineEco 2024. This film, an official selection of the Visions du Réel 2023 festival and winner of prizes at the Toulouse and Guadalajara 2023 festivals, shows a battle between two worlds, one green and rural and the other sterile and technological, which are intrinsically dependent on each other, in a balance that seems impossible to achieve. A window that, although it wants to be sealed, seems to push the outside world that encloses it ever closer.

The “International Short and Medium Length Film Award” went to Magnifica: Kutsumaton Vieras de VilleKoskinen (Finland), a documentary film about the coexistence between Finnish vacationers and an unexpected visitor named Pectinatella Magnifica – it’s something and there are large quantities of it. The arrival of slimy, green blobs in a safe and familiar environment brings uncomfortable sensations to the comfortable middle-class community.

The Portuguese-language feature film Sem Coração by Nara Normande and Tião won the “Camacho Costa Award”. The film portrays the summer of 1996 on the northeast coast of Brazil, where Tamara is preparing to leave her fishing village to study in Brasilia. The film was part of the official selection for the Orizzontino section of the Venice Film Festival 2023 and won the award for best Brazilian film at the São Paulo Film Festival 2023.

The “Portuguese Language Short Film Award” went to Percebes, by Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, which also won the Crystal Award for best short film at the Annecy Animation Festival 2024. With the sea and an urban Algarve as a backdrop, we follow the complete life cycle of a special mollusc called PERCEBES. In the journey from its formation to the plate, we cross different contexts that allow us to better understand this region and those who inhabit it.

In this 30th edition of CineEco, between October 10 and 18, more than 3,500 spectators passed through the Festival halls, with the important collaboration of the godfathers and godmothers.

This year, once again, there was a series of parallel activities at CineEco, such as the Encounters in the Market, Conversations in the Garden, the inauguration of the new Video Art film screening space, the State of Water, Plastic Bitch and Line exhibitions.

CINEECO WINNERS 2024

>> INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION (> 60′)

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

>>>> GREAT ENVIRONMENT AWARD|Seia City Council

FAUNA, Pau Faus, Spain, Documentary, 2023, 74′

>>>> HONORABLE MENTION

GERLACH,Alionavan der Horst and LuukBouwman, The Netherlands, Documentary, 2023, 77′

>>>> ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY AWARD

BOTTLEMEN,NemanjaVojinović, Serbia, Documentary, 2023, 84”

>> PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

>>>> CAMACHO COSTA AWARD|Lipor

SEM CORAÇÃO, Nara Normandee Tião, Brazil, France and Italy, Fiction, 2023, 93′

>>>> HONORABLE MENTION

IN SEARCH OF THE STAR (A Shepherd’sTale), Carlos Martínez-PeñalverMas, Portugal, Documentary, 2023, 77′

>> INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILMS

INTERNATIONAL SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM COMPETITION

>>>> INTERNATIONAL SHORT AND MEDIUM FILM AWARD|Turistrela

MAGNIFICA: KUTSUMATON VIERAS (Magnifica: Passive Intruder),VilleKoskinen, Finland, Documentary, 2024, 20′

>>>> HONORABLE MENTION

STRATA INCOGNITA, RomeaMuryń, Francisco Lobo, Amaia Sánchez-Velasco and Jorge ValienteOriol, Portugal and Spain, Documentary, Experimental, 2023, 16′

A POIL!, AudreyClemens, France, Documentary, Experimental, 2024, 17’32”

>>>> ANIMATED SHORT FILM AWARD

THE WAITING, VokerSchlecht, Germany, Animation, 2023, 15′

>> COMPETITION FOR SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILMS IN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE

PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM COMPETITION

>>>> PORTUGUESE-LANGUAGE SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM AWARD

PERCEBES,Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, Portugal and France, Animation, 2024, 11’30”

>>>> HONORABLE MENTION

NOCTURN FOR A FOREST, Catarina Vasconcelos, Portugal, Fiction, Experimental, 2023, 16′

>>>> ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AWARD|RotaryClub of Seia

ERVILHA, Teresa Mendonça, Portugal, Documentary, 2023, 11’53”

>> REGIONAL PANORAMA COMPETITION