After two first editions organized by the City Council, in the context of the Ciudad de Alcalá Awards, the Nebrija Cine-Club takes charge of the Amateur Film Contest, a moment that is considered the official birth of what we know today as ALCINE – Alcalá de Henares Film Festival/Community of Madrid. During this first stage, the fight involves converting that modest amateur contest into a professional festival, not so much economically (the fights over the budget with the administrations will be constant throughout the first stage) but also on an artistic level. Local filmmakers, such as Baldomero Perdigón or Pepe Ganga, and national filmmakers such as Fernando Colomo or Manuela García de la Vega coexist in the list of winners. In 1975, with the incorporation of the 16 mm category and Fernando Calvo as the first director of the festival, more mature works began to be received and the presence of prominent figures in the industry in juries and parallel sections increased. Alcalá is looking for its own place in the Spanish film festival scene.
From the exhibition History of a Film Festival.
(Pedro Toro, 2021)
To learn more, consult the free access book "Historia(s) de un festival de Cine” (in Spanish).
