Brain Film Fest

During our three-day event, we screened 9 feature films about the BRAIN; from documentaries about its possibilities and illnesses, to fiction films with characters and stories that were central to themes related to the brain. Many of the films were accompanied by panel discussions with scientists and experts, or interviews with the filmmakers. These discussions we’re live-streamed and later uploaded to YouTube, where we’ve had to date over 1,800 views. We also held two in-person workshops: one on Mindfulness and the other on Body/Mind Awareness thru percussion; both sold-out. Our theme for the Brain Film Fest this year was Mental Health, a decision we thought was apt taking into account it was held this March, a full year into the pandemic. We held a mixed (online and in-person) press conference and landed several tv and radio segments, plus news coverage. We also made a concerted effort to raise our social media presence, uploading short videos and campaigning daily in the days leading up to the event. This quadrupled our followers with respect to 2020. As every year, we held a short-film competition, with both online voting as well as with a formal jury. Our goal is to promote and showcase shorts that revolve around issues related to the brain, awarding cash prizes. We received 4% more entries than 2020, proof that we are consolidating our brand, and the level of production value were significantly higher. Covid restrictions limited our theaters to 30% capacity, spurring us to partner with an online Spanish film platform to make both the feature films and shorts available via streaming for a 7-day period. This was a huge success and we were able to reach audiences beyond Barcelona. Our films had over 5000 views.

Partnering with Brain Awareness Week gives us credibility, which we greatly appreciate! I think we should use the material made available by your organization. As the majority of our public speak Catalan and Spanish, we would need to adapt it.

Social media is really a good investment. We also learned that thru perceived weaknesses (limited theater capacity) came new ideas (using online platforms) that actually ended up being beneficial and helped us reach new audiences.