"Then I started making stop motion films with the toys I had and kept improving," he said in an interview withAgência Brasil
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Miguel Viglio is one of the competitors in the International Small Cinematographer Festival (FIPC), which takes place from this Sunday (18) until October 24th, in three cultural spaces in the city of Rio de Janeiro: Carlos Gomes Municipal Theater, Cervantes Institute, and Botanical Garden. The program is free.
At home, Miguel has the encouragement of his mother, Chica Amoreira, who proudly recalled the awards her son has already won at festivals. Among the accolades, only with the filmCircus of Horrorswith which he will compete in this edition of FIPC, has Best Film at the FECEA Festival in Rio Grande do Sul in 2025; Generation Trophy at the Rio Festival in the same year; Best Film by Popular Jury at the É Tudo Criança Festival in Minas Gerais in 2026.
Outside Brazil, it was a finalist at the CineClub Dei Picoli in Italy in 2025, the Madeira Curtas Short Film in Portugal in 2026, and the REC film festival in Germany also in 2026.
Daniel Nini, 16, is another competitor in the International Young Filmmaker Festival. His interest in art led him to act as an actor. After theater, he wanted to make films because he loved watching movies.
"At 10 years old, I realized I could be in films and make films. So, I started watching a lot to gain cultural baggage and try to put my own scripts into practice," he said to the Brazil Agency.Brazil Agency.
Initially, he used his cell phone, which was all he had at the time, to make his film. "Back then, I didn't have a camera, when I shot it on my phone, I thought nothing would be usable because the sound quality wasn't great, but with the magic of editing, especially on a big screen, it was fantastic. I was very happy with the result," Daniel shared.
who is also an actor and, over time, managed to buy the necessary equipment with the money he earned from his performances.
Jury
Another feature of the festival is that children and teenagers also participate in choosing the winners.The Official Jury is composed of young people from the same age groups as the competitors, between 8 and 17 years old.
The responsibility of having to judge the productions is great, as it may represent a milestone for those starting their careers. Official Jury member, Carina Ki, considered it a very important experience.
"When I found out they were aged 13 to 17, I thought it was a bit experimental because children are making them, but I was very impacted by their creativity and all the techniques they used. The children put in a lot of effort. I was very impressed by their talent," she said.
"I have the project to study cinema in the future, so it was a very important opportunity for me to get in touch with productions by other teenagers," she concluded.
For the filmmaker, producer, audiovisual educator, and creator of the FIPC, Daniela Gracindo, the difference of this festival is that it's not adults talking about children and teenagers. They take over the cameras to tell their own stories.
"They feel more participatory and take on a leading role because their opinion matters. It completely changes the attitude of a child who sits down knowing they will choose the film that will be awarded. Their attitude in the cinema chair is different," Daniela evaluated.
11th Edition
The International Young Filmmaker Festival reaches its 11th edition with more activities and increased interest from children and teenagers in the art of cinema. The idea arose when Daniela was producing a tribute to her grandfather, Paulo Gracindo.
At the time, Gracindo Jr.'s father, with whom he was making the documentary, had a production company, where the filmmaker wanted to teach cinema and theater classes. This is how, in 2009, a group with a children's crew of students aged 9 to 13 inaugurated the Little Filmmaker Workshop, which accompanies children and young people through all stages of film production, from the idea and script to acting, directing, filming, and editing.
From there, the first edition of the festival emerged in 2010, and according to Daniela, it was still quite timid.
"Each edition I organize is a huge exchange of culture, connection, and getting closer to the child, because we have this qualified space where they can and should express themselves through the seventh art," Daniela pointed out.
Over the years, the interaction with children and adolescents has increased and strengthened through Little Filmmaker Workshops held in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, and even outside Brazil, such as in French Guiana and Argentina.
"By seeing all this result and being able to accommodate children who have never been to a cinema and are amazed just by the room, imagine when they realize that another girl or boy, like them, made the film on the screen. The impact is very great for everyone," Daniela said.
Productions
This year, the festival will showcase 68 films made by young people aged 8 to 17. The productions were selected from 467 entries from 41 countries and ten Brazilian states. They include fiction, documentaries, and animations, which, according to the organizers, "show how this generation perceives issues ranging from friendship and prejudice to artificial intelligence, cyberbullying, and the climate crisis."
Competition levels
In addition to four categories: National and International for children aged 8-12, and National and International Young for adolescents aged 13-17, the film competition takes place in three special showcases: Little Filmmaker Workshop, Hispanic Films, and Sustaine Your Story, dedicated to productions about sustainability and the environment.
Variety
The themes of the selected films range from affections, losses, friendship, prejudice, work, artificial intelligence, violence, cyberbullying, climate crisis, and the relationship between humanity and nature..
Human connections are explored inA Night WithoutYou (Malaysia)Orpheus & Eurydice(United States)Travel Routes(Niterói, Rio de Janeiro). Already thereThe City(Ukraine) andPaani(United States) filmmakers explore resilience in the face of wars, displacements, and extreme climate events.
The climate crisis is a topic inAxinos(Greece)Concrete(Contagem, MG) andYanomami: Guardians of the Forest(Brazil), whileThe MirrorandSecond PlanTwo filmmakers from Porto Alegre, andBecause of AI(Spain) explore loneliness, social pressure, violence, and the effects of technology.
Exchange
The opening on August 18th at 11 am at the Carlos Gomes Municipal Theater in Rio's center, promises a special meeting between filmmakers from Brazil and French Guiana. During the ceremony, six shorts produced in Saint-Georges by approximately 80 children and young adults, during workshops held between 2025 and 2026, will be shown, as well as a mini-documentary about the creative process.
On Monday, September 19th, from 3:30 pm to 5 pm, at the Cervantes Institute in Botafogo, there will be a Round Table event. This will be a meeting of young filmmakers from Brazil and French Guiana who will watch the films produced by both groups. There will also be a discussion with the audience about narrative choices, themes, production challenges, and different ways to transform experiences into cinema.
On the same day and the following day, from 9 am to 1 pm, the Cervantes Institute will host a workshop titled "Cinema in the Classroom," aimed at teachers, educators, and those interested in developing audiovisual practices with children and young people. The Argentine educator, filmmaker, and researcher Irene Blei will lead this eight-hour activity.
Irene is innovative in audiovisual education, having created and directed historically the El Mate Film Workshop, the first children's and youth cinema school in Vicente López, Argentina.
Schools
The festival's actions reach schools and educational communities across the country through the "Young Filmmaker in School" program.
Registered institutions have free access during the festival period to competitive screenings and can organize sessions with their students and submit votes for the People's Jury Award. The organizers believe this initiative fosters audience development and turns cinema into a starting point for discussions on contemporary issues within schools.
"It is crucial for childhood and youth in this regard, not to be a YouTuber or TikToker, although they can be, but the idea of the Young Filmmaker project is for them to delve deeper into the language and become critics, understanding what they are receiving, creating, and becoming literate in this language," Daniela reported.
Over its editions, the festival has gathered productions from 54 countries, reaching over 80,000 people, "promoting authorship, expression rights, audience formation, and intercultural dialogue."
The festival's closing ceremony this year will take place at the Instituto Cervantes from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, featuring the award ceremony for winners and a tribute to Gracindo Jr., who passed away on September 2nd at his home in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 83.
The International Young Filmmaker Festival receives institutional support from the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, through the Municipal Secretariats of Culture and Education, the National Culture System, and the Ministry of Culture.