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= BEAST International Film Festival =

Beast International Film Festival is a short and medium length film festival featuring feature film, documentary and experimental cinema. It is focused on representing the culture of 23 East European countries to the public in Porto, Portugal.

Description
Started in 2017 by the nonprofit Association Plus East, BEAST IFF focuses mainly on countries with a low Audiovisual distribution capacity, from the "Balkans" to the "Baltics" but also on Portuguese film directors working in an international environment. Every year, part of the program is a different Focus Country with an active presence throughout the event.

First Edition
The BEAST participants compete in three categories, each containing the award for Best Film and the Jury Mention. EAST WAVE is devoted to fiction film, EAST DOC targets documentaries and ExperimentalEast covers experimental cinema. In addition to these three categories, the festival kicked off with the Focus Country section. In the first edition, the opening session featured the film " All These Sleepless Nights" by Polish filmmaker  Michal Marczak.

On the remaining days, Polish cinema was explored through some of its best directors and students, with a Director Focus on the young director Bartosz Kruhlik, a video art projection by Pani Pawlosky and a school visit with the best students of the Lódz Film School.

Portuguese cinema also marked its place in Beast with Portuguese Abroad, a selection of films produced by Portuguese who studied or made their films in one of the Eastern European countries, with the aim of promoting the national production that is made abroad. Also, the younger ones had their own cinematic moments with the special selection of BEAST KIDS films, which presented an educational for children aged 6 to 12 at the Almeida Garrett Auditorium.

In addition to the screenings, the festival will also offer the opportunity to participate in various workshops and masterclass es, led by national and international filmmakers and producers, including a Children's animation workshop, a youth cinema workshop and Masterclasses that cover topics such as: feminism, documentary cinema and history.

The BEAST International Film Festival is organized in partnership with the Porto City Council, the Cineclube do Porto , Europe Direct Porto and other national and international cultural institutions.