Best known for his twenty years in television, Luís Filipe Borges decided to submit his first venture as a film director to the Curta Pico Award. After a year of preparation, the project won this award, led by MiratecArts, with the support of the three municipalities of the island of Pico: Lajes, Madalena, and São Roque.

At the first Azorean Audiovisual Meeting, which took place in January 2023, one of the proposals that is now bearing fruit was to create an award to encourage production on the mountain island of Pico in the Azores. Proposals for ideas to film on the island came from all corners of the country, as well as from Spain, Finland, Switzerland, and North America. A local jury chose the best ideas without knowing the project team. The finalist producers drew up the script, the plans, the team, and the budget, which was submitted to a professional jury.

Screenwriter and director Augusto Fraga and director and creative director of Playground Rui Vieira were unanimous in choosing the winning project.

“Although it’s difficult to choose one, ‘First Date’ has the most potential to be produced (…) it’s a short film that takes the viewer on a journey through the island of Pico and keeps them hooked until the end,” said Rui Vieira. Augusto Fraga added that he “awarded this project the prize because its plot has Pico as its inevitable setting and it starts from an interesting premise with internal conflict.”

As such, Luís Filipe Borges’ “First Date” project was awarded the prize, which includes ten thousand euros to support the production, and last week it began its repérage on Portugal’s highest mountain. Diogo Rola is the director of photography, and actress Ana Lopes has already been confirmed for the leading role. At the presentation, the project’s producer and director, Luís Filipe Borges, admitted it was “a pride, a privilege, and an honor to have the winning project in the first edition of the Curta Pico Award. I welcome the initiative of the extraordinary MiratecArts and the support of the 3 municipalities of Ilha Maior, which set a true example of cultural initiative within our archipelago and in an area – cinema – where it is so difficult to produce in the Azores and by Azoreans. This will be my directorial debut and I couldn’t be more excited and aware of the responsibility. We want to do our best for the story we’ve presented, for Pico, and for the whole region.”

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)