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Funchal Film Festival is held every year to celebrate the culture of art and fiction films. Film enthusiasts from all over Portugal as well as several neighboring countries flock around Madeira where the festival is hosted. As the craze of films is building up everywhere in the world with increasing fervor, the crowd attending the film festival is also increasing almost with the same pace. The festival mainly covers fiction feature films of 35mm reel.

While some arrive at the Island for the film festival to admire the talent displayed by the novice and experienced filmmakers, there are others who come solely to enjoy their time looking for properties in Portugal or buy the famous embroidered tablecloths. There are still others who find time off to visit the old churches, parks and gardens maintained in a remarkable manner throughout the country. Whatever your reason, it is easy to get here, as there are several charter flights to Funchal from different countries in UK.

The Funchal Film Festival is held in the month of April every year. The various categories included for the festival are Best short movie, Best Actress, Best Actor, Funchal Gold and Silver awards, Special jury award, Premiere Madeira and a Public award. There are also two honorary awards in all. The Life Achievement award for 2010 was presented to Geraldine Chaplin. Geraldine Chaplin started her career at a young age of 8 years with her fathers film called Limelight. Some of her popular films are Welcome to L.A and Mama Turns a Hundred. The other honorary award is the Tribute to Terry Jones.

The special jury award was bagged by Duane Hopkins for her great work in the film called Better Things. The jury in the festival is formed by notable people from the film fraternity who understand and have experienced film-making first hand. The jury for 2010 Film Festival included Beatriz Silva who has been an educator, director and producer of films in Uruguay and other parts of the world. Some of her noteworthy works include a film called En La Puts Vida. Other jury members this year were Phyllis Mollet, Fernando Vendrell, Giacomo Martini and Stjepan Hundic.

The festival organizers usually screen a film and sometimes all the films nominated for a particular award, as the festival is a week long. The competitive program includes International competition for feature films, International competition for Short films and the most popular in the country, Competitive films produced in Madeira Island. Artists and talented visionaries from several parts of the world grace the occasion with their presence. You will also find some students from known film institutes attend the various ceremonies and local trips organized by the sponsors. It is indeed a grand occasion that has inspired one and all.