VAFA 2018 – Winner, merits, finalists, exhibition and screenings

The open call of the Macau International Video Art Festival - VAFA 2018 was extremely successful with 375 videos being submitted. Artists from 53 countries and regions participated with the top five countries in number of videos in the contest being the USA (43 videos), UK (31 videos), France (25 videos), China (mainland, 23 videos) and Portugal (21 videos). The Jury of this year was composed by previous edition winner Song Zihui, AFA president Alice Kok, HK curator Andrew Lam, Shanghai artist Hu Renyi, the director of the festival and curator of the exhibition José Drummond and a public vote conducted on Facebook. The exhibition opening takes place on the 3rd of November at 17:30 with the award being given in the ceremony to Maria Molina Peiró winner of VAFA 2018. The results of the competition and works in the exhibition are as follow:

Winner:

Digital Trauma – María Molina Peiró – 8’10’’, 2018, Spain/Holland

The Two Merits:

We Love Me – Naween Noppakun – 13’18’’, 2017, Thailand

The Stream VIII – Hiroya Sakurai – 6’54’’, 2017, Japan

Other top 10 list:

 
Snowy, Wang Yanxin , 8'44", 2018, China

Untitled (5),Luciano Scherer & Maira Flores,05'05", 2018, Brasil/Portugal

Flower in the Water (red, yellow, blue), Kit Lee,02'00", 2018, Macau

Four Minutes and Beyond,LIN LI, 4'30", 2018, Hong Kong

Subliminal Mirage, Mo Jia Qing, 9'08", 2017, China

…To My Plastic Brothers …, Pedro Matias, 10'33", 2018, Portugal/Holland

Centered, Fair Brane, 1'00", 2017, USA

Exhibtion 4 Nov - 30 Nov

Maria Molina Peiró (Spain/Holland) – Digital Trauma (And the Crystal Image) – 8’07"
Naween Noppakun (Thailand) – We Love Me – 13’18"
Hiroya Sakurai (Japan) – The Stream VIII – 6’54"
Pedro Matias (Portugal/Holland) – To My Plastic Brothers – 9’49"
Lin Li (HK) – Four Minutes and Beyond – 4’30"
Kit Lee (Macau) – Flower in the Water (Red, Yellow, Blue) – 2’00"
Fair Brane (USA) – Centered – 1’00’’
Mo Jia Qing (China) – Subliminal Mirage – 9’16"
Wang Yanxin (China) – Snowy – 8’44"
Luciano Scherer (Brazil/Portugal) – Untitled (5) – 5’05"

These 10 works were shortlisted with other 10 in the competition for VAFA 2018 awards. The remaining 10 works not included in the exhibition are shown in a screening on the 4th of November at 16:30h in the amphitheatre of Orient Foundation in Casa Garden. From the open call a second screening dedicated to promote Asian video art will be shown afterwards the other 10 finalists screening at 17:30h.
Below are the videos included in the screenings (Listed in no particular order):

 
Other Finalists 4 Nov 4:30PM
Noémi Varga (Hungary) – The Happiest Barrack – 15’51’’
Pablo Romo Alvarez (Mexico) – Suspect – 1’48’’
Jim Rolland (France) – Musical Landscape – 7’42’’
Alexandra Buhl (Denmark) – Blue Furacana – 11’00’’
Michael Lyons (Canada/Japan) – Film Loop 34: Ryoanji – 1’30’’
Corrine Charton (UK) – (Paroxysms erupting because) MR ROCHESTER DOES NOT QUITE GET IT – 2’ 36’’
Veronica Burger (Austria) – fade IN fade OUT – 6’28’’
Leonid Kharmalov (Russia/Germany) – The Wall – 1’24’’
Tullio Manca (Italy) – The Wait – 3’15’’
Marisa Benito (Spain) – Ductile – 2’43’’

Asian Showcase (4 Nov 5:30PM)
Ieong Kun Ieng (Macau) – The Golden Birdcage – 0’48’’
Kiwi Chan (Macau) – Hato’s Journey – 9’51’’
Carlos Caires (Macau) – This is Not a Story This is Not a City– 14’23’’
Bo Choy (HK) – Un/folding In – 13’56’’
Zhang Yongji (China) – The Generation is Screaming – 4’31’’
Zhang Yunfeng & Li Haiguang (China) – Playground – 13’42’’
Di Hu (China) – Urban Sculptures – 6’16’’
Shon Kim (South Korea) – Bookanima: Dance – 7’31’’
Rita Mahfouz (Lebanon) – On Familiar Waters – 7’44’’
Axl Hazarika (India) – Goru Bihu Song – 4’00’’
Rita Mahfouz – “On Familiar Waters”,7’44’’ (Lebanon)
Axl Hazarika – “Goru Bihu Song”, 4’00’’ (India)