The Film Agency has introduced in Spain, for the first time, European Film Challenge – a MEDIA Programme and European cinema industry initiative to engage with younger audiences.

After 3 years of experience in other European countries, The Film Agency has managed the first ‘challenge’ in Spain, which has gathered almost 3,000 participants, a third of the overall number of participants in the rest of European countries taking part – Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Croatia and Hungary.

In this edition, the contenders were vying for an exclusive trip to Cannes Festival, in which the winners would have special access to all the ‘behind the scenes’ events. After very fierce competition amongst Spanish cinema lovers, the winner is Ignacio Navarro, a young 27 year-old cinema critic, living in Madrid.

Ignacio is not only the contestant that earned the highest number of points. He also stood out for his dedication and for sharing all the films he watched, along with thoughtful mini-reviews in all his posts. Ignacio said: “Winning the European Film Challenge is for me a unique opportunity to enjoy the best festival in the world in the company of other European film-lovers. Cannes is a festival that I always dreamt of going to, and this year I´ll be able to do that in the best possible conditions. I definitely don´t want to miss Mirai, the film I’ve most keenly awaited all year. I’m really looking forward to walking alongside its director, Mamoru Hosoda!”.

Ignacio will join the rest of the European Film Challenge winners at Cannes and we can’t wait to meet him there and follow him during his journey!

In terms of the impact of the initiative in Spain, this project has met its broad objectives, managing to connect with a community of young cinema-lovers, who watched their favourite films, mostly using VoD platforms. See, below, all the graphic information, including all the relevant project data.