Last weekend, Luís Filipe Borges’ first film, “First Date,” had its U.S. premiere. The New Bedford Film Festival had the honor of showing images filmed on the island of Pico in the Azores for the first time in the United States. The short fiction film about an American woman who meets a Portuguese man on the mountainous island doesn’t stop there.

Terry Costa, artistic director of MiratecArts and co-producer of the film, was present at the American premiere. “This is a very special region for us, the Azores,” explains the producer. “The East Coast of the United States has many Azoreans and their descendants. Some of them came to the festival and the screening, which was nice to see their reactions to the movie. It was also special to take the film, with scenes from our whaling village of Lajes do Pico, to the US Whaling City and show it in a room adjacent to the great New Bedford Whaling Museum.” The director, Luís Filipe Borges, received the “Best Director” nomination in the short film category at the New Bedford Film Festival.
After its premiere on the American continent, the film is in the official selection for the Massachusetts International Film Festival, held in Arlington. And this week, it won an online competition in the city of angels, the LA Sun Film Fest, receiving the “Best International Narrative Short” award.

“First Date” has been submitted to more than a dozen festivals in the US and is on the shortlist for shows in Boston, Portland, and California. The producers are awaiting the jury’s deliberations with anticipation.

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 Publications at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks the Luso-American Education Foundation for their support.