Único – International Amateur Film Festival was born from a commitment to value cinema created outside commercial and industrial circuits. Films made at home, in schools, within communities, or through personal urgency and affection. Family records, local narratives, poetic gestures, unfinished attempts — amateur cinema constitutes a vast and largely unseen visual heritage that this festival seeks to reveal, question, preserve, and reactivate.
Rejecting production-year limits, the festival acknowledges that amateur cinema often exists beyond institutional timelines. Many films remain unseen for years, waiting for their first public encounter. Único embraces discovery as a curatorial principle, welcoming films made in any period and valuing their relevance in the present rather than their date of production.
Fees are designed to remain accessible, supporting inclusivity while contributing to the festival’s sustainability.
The programme brings together multiple dimensions of amateur filmmaking:
the presentation and activation of audiovisual archives;
cinema creation and exchange within schools;
encounters and conversations around memory, access, education, and territory;
and international sessions developed with cultural and educational partners, including institutions working under challenging social or geopolitical conditions.
By creating a shared space for filmmakers, educators, archivists, and audiences, Único positions amateur cinema not as a marginal practice, but as a living field of experimentation, attention, and collective authorship.
