Mirafondo Festival steps up with European art schools arriving
The second edition of the Mirafondo Audiovisual Creation Festival will premiere on Friday, 6 March at the Islands Youth Center (CIJ). In the weeks leading up to the gala, students and teachers from the Fuerteventura School of Art (EAF), together with invited participants from Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic and La Palma, will take part in Cine Express workshops – an intensive program that combines collaborative living, shooting, and editing.
The festival’s theme this year is “Dystopias, a Happy World”, a nod to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The concept invites creators to imagine a fictional future in which society collapses, promising innovative and futuristic short films.
The festival gala—the public centerpiece—will be held on Friday, 6 March, from 18:00 h at the CIJ. The premiere will be open to the public, showcasing the students’ works and awarding prizes in the following categories:
- Documentary Film
- Experimental‑Video Art
- Counter‑advertising
- Cine Express (short‑form)
Additional awards will recognize Best Performance and Best Script.
Creative Surge in the “Guerrilla Cinema” Workshops
From Monday 2 to Friday 6 March, the Cine Express (or “guerrilla cinema”) workshops will run at the Tefía Hostel. During this intensive residency, EAF students and their European guests will produce their footage in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment of living, shooting, and editing. As in the previous edition, participants will work together on the final pieces that will be screened during the gala.
Mirafondo as a Cross‑Departmental School Project
Mirafondo is billed as a “submerged art festival” and is conceived as a cross‑departmental school project. Both students and teachers are involved not only in creating the films but also in the broader production elements, such as:
- Visual identity and graphic design
- Animations and presentations
- Award design and ceremony logistics
International Guests
The 2026 edition will host students and teachers from university art academies in Naples, Brescia and Macerata (Italy); Oporto (Portugal); Ostrava (Czech Republic); and the Manolo Blahnik School of Art in La Palma. Their participation is expected to elevate the creative level of the event.
The EAF thanked the Fuerteventura Island Council, the Youth Department, and the Fuerteventura Film Commission for their support.
“We thank the Fuerteventura Island Council, the Islands Youth Center, and the Fuerteventura Film Commission for supporting the development of this second edition of Mirafondo, in which all school cycles participate transversally,” said Milagros Moreno, vice‑director of the EAF.
“This year is a more ambitious project, with five days of work in Tefía and the presence of guests from La Palma and several European countries.”
The Councillor for Education and Youth, Adargoma Hernández, highlighted the festival’s significance:
“It is an educational project promoted and carried out by the EAF that is unique in the Canary Islands. It demonstrates the importance of the training projects we have in Fuerteventura and the need to keep making them visible.”
Other attendees at the presentation included Alejandro Alberto and Javier González, teachers of the Higher Degree Cycle in Advertising Graphics, as well as students Carla Hormiga (first‑year Advertising Graphics) and Carla Chacón and Simón Senra, who played key roles in designing the festival poster.