The 16th Curtas Vila do Conde reaffirms the decision the Festival made a long time ago to go along with what cinema and its many expressions may contain and inspire: transformation, evolution, originality and creative spirit. We want Curtas to continue to be a forum for dialogue between cinema and its neighbouring territories, such as art, video and video art, music which are easily influenced by films.

We would also like the festival to be a place for discovering new languages and artistic expression. It is this diversity of approach that continues to captivate an audience that joins us in this celebration of cinema and creative freedom every year.

Once again, the main axis of our programme includes the international and the Portuguese short film competitions. This year there is a selection of films that will reinforce a trend of returning to the art of telling a story. This is shown in the number of very good and very original fiction films included in these sections. The International Competition includes 38 films, of all genres, which as a whole attest to the multiplicity of languages, the independence of the artis- tic approaches, the blurring of boundaries between genres, and the spirit of experimentation that is our trademark.