Festival Infantil Y Juvenil Chulpicine (24)

Festival start: 19 July 2025      Festival end: 27 September 2025

Chulpicine began its work in 2002 with the first ever Itinerant Children & Youth Film Festival in Quito. The warm welcome that the project received allowed the festival to become an annual event during the months of July to September, bringing an educational and entertaining event at no cost, to sectors with few cultural activities.

Thanks to the positive reaction, Chulpicine became a cultural and educational non-profit foundation in June 2004. After more than 10 years of experience, Chulpicine have reach a stable proposal and working methodology that has spread at national level. The Festival has promoted the creation of coaching staff; cultural managers working in different communities; and a large group of followers.

Chulpicine has designed a set of activities and workshops for institutions, community organizations or outreach workers to educate and train in different areas related to cinema, audiovisual, communication and Internet used as social intervention tools. These activities and workshops have been the beginning of a formation of learning communities by harnessing the capabilities of young people, as well as the setting up of an active and engaged network of social facilitators through the film and audiovisual work.

The Foundation carries out the following program lines: training; intervention; appropriation of public spaces; diffusion and production. This line of work is an alternative to foster community networks to develop communication skills, analysis and reflection in the various stakeholders of the community, thereby strengthening its organizational and self-development skills.

The foundation has a multidisciplinary team currently working on the projects. These people are responsible for different areas: there is a psychologist, a producer, a programmer, a communicator and an accountant.

In addition, every year about 12 people are hired to assist in the implementation of activities. This group is made up of people who have worked in the past in the festival and some new young people that wish to join the group. Also, each year we have the support of volunteers from different organizations.

The aim of this initiative is to generate the active participation of children and adolescents, taking into account their opinion regarding audiovisual material that is produced, aimed at their age range as a target audience. To promote spaces for reflection and decision-making that increase the real participation of children and youth and, on the other hand, to encourage audiovisual production aimed at children and adolescents.
The members of the children's jury meet at the end of the festival to deliberate on the best films in each category. There are 3 intensive deliberation sessions. During these sessions, children and young people discuss and analyse the previous selection made by the public's votes. (After each screening, the public receives a voting ballot where they can rate the films. From here comes the selection of films that goes to the jury.) The jury is led by a trained adult who helps produce and evaluate the debate on each film.
First Phase
Four categories are defined for the selection of short films based on age:
From 0 to 6 years
From 7 to 14 years
From 15 to 18 years
Family
A category is defined that includes all the feature films presented at the festival.
Second Phase:
During the screenings held in the months of July, August and September, the short films presented are put to a public vote. After each screening, a ballot will be given out containing the names of the short films viewed so that each attendee can vote for the two most liked.
At screenings in cultural centers and the House of Culture, each spectator will be provided with two faces which can be placed at the end of the screening on a panel with the photographs of each short film, choosing their favorites.
For the feature films, a ballot was designed so that attendees can determine whether the film, according to their criteria, is good, average or bad.
This information will be counted and, through a statistical method, the material that the public liked the most will be selected to establish the programming that the children's and youth jury will view.
Third Phase:
Select a children's and youth jury according to age categories. These children and youth will be called because they have been close to previous editions of the Festival, have been an audience at its functions or have been part of the workshops given by the Foundation, or they will be representatives of the schools and colleges that participate in the festival.
Three viewing meetings will be held. During these sessions, the jurors will be able to observe, evaluate and discuss the programming of the short films preselected.

The process of viewing and selecting the winners will have a representative of the National Council of Children and Adolescents who will participate as an observer, viewing all the audiovisual material and accompanying the voting processes.

During its 23 years of existence, Chulpicine has designed a series of activities and workshops aimed at communities, institutions (schools, colleges, public and private entities), social organizations, youth groups, women, educators, community leaders, girls and boys of all ages, in order to train and educate in different areas of cinema (production, interpretation and projection). In all the activities implemented so far, the Foundation applies the premise that audiovisual, communication and new technologies such as the Internet are tools that contribute to social development, cultural enrichment and organizational and social strengthening in the participating communities. The target audience of this Festival is children, young people and families from various sectors of the Metropolitan District of Quito and 7 provinces of the coast, mountains and east, prioritizing the areas with less access to cultural activities and greater social problems.

The population benefited by the Chulpicine Children's and Youth Film Festival is a non-homogeneous child audience that varies according to their conditions, geographic location and different origins. In the provinces of the Coast, Sierra and East, the public is made up of groups of different nationalities and diverse cultural/ethnic origins. Work with indigenous communities has been promoted, which has been considered an opportunity for growth.
In places where daily life is crossed by conflicts (typical of border areas), young people have been challenged by this cinematographic proposal, which in addition to the approach to the arts, entertainment and cultural processes, has opened a gap in the curiosity and new interests of young people.
Since 2008, the festival has expanded its areas, empowering young promoters from the eastern and central regions of Ecuador. These promoters are called “Chulpimonitores” and are in charge of stimulating meetings about audiovisuals and organizing spaces, auditions and workshops.

Free activities

We believe that the Chulpicine Festival should be a manifestation that helps democratize culture and allows the participation of all economic, social and cultural sectors, for this reason, as in previous years, all activities that will be carried out within the framework of the festival will reach the public free of charge.

This will only be possible if the state and private institutions that have sponsored the festival in other years maintain their financial support in a sustained manner.

Municipal and public schools and colleges are invited to the screenings, and sometimes private ones. Also during the Festival, screenings aimed at “the whole family” are organized with special programs and subsequent activities.

Another important group that the festival is aimed at are disabled children. Special screenings are organised for deaf children or those with general learning problems.


Film Selection Criteria

The production of the festival begins in July, however, the work of searching for and selecting films begins in February. This long selection process is necessary to offer viewers films that, in addition to being entertaining, are a cultural and educational proposal. It is also about breaking with stereotypes instilled by television and positively valuing what cinematographic technique offers as a source of storytelling, entertainment, art and fantasy. In this way, the public discovers cinema and audiovisuals as a form of language, thus being able to become sensitive and reflect through them.

Based on the characteristics of the festival and its objectives, the selection criteria for the festival are based on:

• Aesthetic value
• Variety of countries
• Variety of techniques
• Variety of genres
• Educational content
• Approach to other realities and cultures
• Significance of a cinematographic work

The format, year of production and duration are not selection criteria.

Estimated number of spectators/public reached: 8000 girls, boys and adolescents.

It is possible to register in the Festival all those original short films, animation, real image, documentary, fiction, series or television programs aimed at children and young people in the following categories.

From 0 to 6 years old
From 7 to 14 years old
From 15 to 18 years old.
Family.

Language

AN IMPORTANT REQUISITE IS THE language:

• ORIGINAL SPANISH language.
• Films DUBBED INTO SPANISH.
• Films WITHOUT DIALOGUE.
• Only a few films in another language, with Spanish subtitles, will be selected to be presented in special screenings designed for schools and groups over 14 years old. (Unfortunately, the public in most rural areas is not able to read subtitles.)
• No limit per year of production.
• Registration is free.
• Having been presented or awarded in other festivals is not an obstacle to participating in the official sections of the competition.