May 18th 2001 | Dominic Lamar

Online Flash Film Festival Report from Barcelona, Spain

This years debut of the Online Flash Film Festival accumulated a crowd of over 400 people for 3 days in Barcelona.

Ticket Prices were quite cheap compared to other Flash Events and a lineup with a mixture of presentations, music & art promised an interesting experience. The Festival was divided into 2 parts which took place in different locations. The first part of the day was spent in the Winterthur Auditorium, an impressive Hall located in one of the more IT related districts of Barcelona ( Offices from IBM , HP , Oracle ).

The Auditorium gave room to about 200 people and all morning was spent listening to presentations. Big Names like Joshua Davis, Philip Kerman and Josh Ulm were present, but also Developers from Spain were on the program. The Language Problem was being taken care of with Headphones and translators, which proved to be very practical. Adobe and Macromedia who were cosponsoring the event, of course introduced their new 3D Technologies.

Best sessions
While Atmosphear didnÂ´t manage to impress many people, the new shockwave 3d technology was very well recieved by the audience. Apart from that many visitors reported the presentations by Joshua Davis and Pitaru / Patterson as their personal Highlights. After a 2 Hour break for grabbing food, the second part of the festival started in the ' cotxeres de sants ', directly the centre of barcelona. The setup they had there reminded a bit of an experimental Nightclub.

About a dozen computers in one corner of the hall provided a possibility for all visitors to check out the pieces submitted for the contest and in a separated room, which had people gathering up in groups like on a real music-festival a projector showcased the samples for a more cinematic experience. One could clearly see that the flash movies submitted for the contest were mainly art-based, which very much suited the general vibe of the festival, but some people complained that there wasnÂ´t any possibilty to actually vote for the pieces, which would have been a nice feature.

The Program for this part of the festival was mainly music-based with experimental noise artists from all around the world, who provided a refreshing soundscape astray from the beaten tracks of conventional pop-music, definitely a challenge for the ears.

Off(f) conference
The Motto of the nights though clearly was connecting and meeting new people in an easygoing environment. Visitors came from completely different backgrounds, which made the whole experience more interesting and although flash was a topic, it was not the only one being discussed. A lot of Discussion also took place in another room of the building, where the omnipresent people from the Underground New Media Festival organized moderated discussions.

I had a chance to talk to Vitaly one Night discussing the idea of everybody being capable to make new media based events happen anywhere on this planet and after this wonderful experience in Barcelona which was more than flash I look forward to soon see more people getting active in this area and I will finish this article with a few words of excellence taken from the official OFFF Program.

Connect , explore , expand and create new contexts through dialogue. No one exists in a Vaccuum, we influence and we are influenced. In the Past, In the Present, in the Future; Development breeds through interaction. LetÂ´s meet, LetÂ´s share, let`s think while developing a common consciousness.

Let`s have fun!See more pictures from the event here:
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