Photo: PAA! Awards of the winners by Pedro Silva

The MiratecArts Association presented its new program, PAA! Awards – Azorean Audiovisual Awards, last Saturday. The special event, at the Madalena Auditorium on the island of Pico, was part of the Montanha Pico Festival, intending to highlight the best made in the Azores.
Since 2022, the Montanha Pico Festival has presented a program showcasing works produced in the Azores, or by Azoreans, “Made in Azores”. Terry Costa, the artistic director, explained that highlighting, celebrating, and rewarding what is ours was a necessary step to encourage more creation and give more visibility to the production that takes place on the islands or by their people.

Part of the prizes are awarded to work submitted for official selection at the Montanha Pico Festival. “These are the works submitted to the festival in the ‘Made in Azores’ program, or by the directors, producers or production companies themselves, after passing the jury’s sieve,” adds Costa. “Other prizes are awarded to works from our television, RTP Açores, with support and shown on the public channel, awarded by the association’s board. In this case, the trophies, built by Diana Silva, were awarded to the series “Caixa Negra”, which premiered on RTP Açores last year, and to Bruno Correia’s documentary, “Os Guardiões da Esperança: A Festa”.

The event opened by highlighting Augusto Fraga’s “Rabo de Peixe” project as a worldwide success. “When we talk about which work has achieved the most audiences, the most visibility, there’s no doubt that this series is the cherry on top, and we’re looking forward to its second season, coming soon on Netflix,” said Terry Costa.

With the on-stage support of Graça Moniz from RTP Açores and Antena 1, Sidónio Bettencourt was presented with the Personality Award. On the phone and applauded by more than two hundred people present at the Madalena Auditorium, the voice of Antena 1’s “Interilhas” and face of the RTP Açores and International program “Atlântida” expressed his gratitude at the award in the year in which he is celebrating 50 years of career.

The prizes awarded for the work submitted to the festival included Diogo Rola, Director of Photography, for “Faial in Winter” in the promotional video session; David Medeiros, Music Video “Calços da Maia – Romeu Bairos”; MJ Sousa, for his work in Documentaries “Cócegas da Terra” and “Sabrina”; David Pinheiro Vicente, as Director of “Os Caçadores”; and, Rosa Coutinho Cabral, for the Film “A Mulher que Morreu de Pé.”

Special prizes were awarded to the production company “Advogado do Diabo”, for the continuous production of excellent programs, from “Mal-Amanhados” to its first film, “First Date”, which was premiered at the festival. Also highlighted were actress Ana Lopes, “ON SCREEN TALENT”, and actor Tomás Furtado de Melo, as a new talent.

“We hope this event will be repeated. I encourage all Azorean producers and directors to take part in future MiratecArts projects,” said Terry Costa at the end of the evening, adding that the online platform miratecarts.com/artists is for all creative artistic talents who live on the islands or are Azorean who wish to take part.

From MiratecArts Press Release

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks the Luso-American Education Foundation for sponsoring FILAMENTOS.