Press Release
Transforming feelings into works of art and stimulating audiovisual production during times of social isolation. This was the motto chosen by Mateus Rocha, creator and producer of the Quarentena Online Film Festival, and Lara Sampaio, co-creator and producer of QOFF! Completely virtual, exhibited on YouTube in an open format, the differentiated format puts into practice the proposal to encourage the production of films during quarantine and at home.
The project was executed collaboratively. Participants were able to interact and ask questions from the beginning through a WhatsApp community, which also served as a content distributor. "The primary purpose of QOFF is to give visibility to these people without restriction on formats and length of films," says Mateus Rocha. "We prioritize the freedom to create and express the anxieties of this strange time we are living in."
The project was executed collaboratively. Participants were able to interact and ask questions from the beginning through a WhatsApp community, which also served as a content distributor. "The primary purpose of QOFF is to give visibility to these people without restriction on formats and length of films," says Mateus Rocha. "We prioritize the freedom to create and express the anxieties of this strange time we are living in."
QOFF opened up space for new production formats that are not normally included in more traditional festivals, such as vlogs and IGTVs. There was no restriction on theme, format, or duration! The only rule was "Do not leave home!" 47 works were registered, mostly from São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. But there were also registrants from various parts of the world - Colombia, Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, and Germany. The participants are between 18 and 56 years old, and work in various professions in the field of Cinema and Audiovisual. The highlight goes to productions made by women, which account for 80%. "We ran a social media campaign targeted at female audiences after noticing that there were many more men participating during the registration process," says Lara Sampaio. "Reversing this scenario is another transformative point for our market."
The festival's voting closed on May 27th and the award ceremony on May 30th was live-streamed on the Quarentena Film Festival YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6MFJyI8dsZsARMY_irvLw. All 86 participants in the Quarentena community are part of the judging panel. Each of them can vote for up to five films per category, which total 17. From the more traditional ones such as Photography and Screenplay, to the unusual ones like "Rio de Lágrimas" for emotional films, "Cardio Award" for works that accelerated heartbeats, and "StayAtHome Award" for specific narratives on the quarantine theme. The public could vote in the Popular Jury category through a voting form provided on the Instagram page bio.
