Once again this year, the Madrid Films by Women has wanted to make visible the work and point of view of women in audiovisual and cinematographic creation, through the programming of a carefully national and international selection of fiction, animation and documentary feature films, directed or produced by women.
During its 6th edition, held from 24 October to 5 November 2023, a total of 70 feature films were screened (74 screenings), of which 17 were premieres in Spain and 36 in Madrid, at the 20 venues that hosted the programme. 46 were feature-length fiction films, 23 documentaries and one animated film. As a novelty for 2023, the festival introduced a new venue: DAMA Audiovisual Media Copyright Derechos de Autor de Medios Audiovisuales.
For two weeks, the best films of recent years, produced in 30 countries on 5 continents, could be enjoyed: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Qatar, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
There were also 14 professional and educational activities - 7 round tables, 3 talks with industry professionals and 4 colloquiums - in 12 different venues. During these activities, professionals presented their vision: international female film directors; scriptwriters; producers; international film festival directors; and experts in international film and audiovisual policies.
During the 13 days of the festival, on 24 occasions women directors, producers and other film professionals were invited to present their work and talk to the public before and after the screenings of their films. As could not be otherwise, taking advantage of their time at the festival, we also had the opportunity to talk to them about their feature films, the themes that have driven their creations, their personal vision of the sector, or the changes that the film industry is undergoing in terms of equality.
In addition, the festival was once again present throughout Spain, beyond the cinemas, thanks to the independent film platform FILMIN, with its own online channel which screened 89 films from different editions, six of which were films from the VI edition.
The results of the VI edition demonstrate, once again, the importance of the visibilization of films directed by women and the interest aroused by initiatives such as this one. We have filled a large number of cinemas with 9 SOLD OUTS and a total of 6,065 attendees: 5,348 at the screenings (12% more than in 2022); 637 at the training activities (16.5% more than in 2022); 35 at the press conference and 45 at the networking meetings. In addition, we have attracted an online audience of 29,831 people: 7,820 views on the FILMIN channel; 20,000 viewers on 8madridTV; 194 at the galas and screenings and 1,817 at the training activities. In short, we gathered 35,896 spectators.
According to the company Mynews Analysis, which conducted the independent analysis of press impact between 6 September and 15 November 2023, the 6th edition recorded a 55.25% increase in readership (total number of readers per publication) to a total of 1,483,867,021 in 2023, compared to 663,935,133 in 2022. Circulation (copies of press purchased by media readers) grew by 23.4% to 868,891 versus 665,384 in 2022. There was also a significant growth of 44% in the cumulative economic value of the impact, totalling €2,794,242, compared to €1,565,481 in 2022.
