On May 17th, 2018, the WeCare Chair: End of Life Care awarded prizes as part of the 1st edition of the “WeCare Festival: Living to the End”, in an event that took place at the CaixaForum in Barcelona. The event consisted of a round table, the viewing of the finalist videos and photographs, as well as the reading of the winning story. Likewise, the CaixaForum itself hosted the exhibition of the best photographs, attached to the event program.
The initiative proved a huge success, with organisers receiving more than 3,000 entries from over 125 countries, in the form of short films, photographs and short stories.
In the words of the directors of WeCare Chair, Dr Cristina Monforte and Dr Josep Porta, “The WeCare Festival: Living to the End” was created to promote creative representations that illustrate the final stage of life. Its fabulous reception illustrates the need for reflecting on the end of life, an issue that affects us all and which the festival participants have addressed from various points of view.
Awards:
Best Short Film: “Fantastic four” by Juan Alejandro Bermúdez
Best Short Story: “Estoy contigo” by Laura Boned
Best Photograph: “Love without borders” by Teodoro Peláez
The three award-winners also received a handmade figure, crafted by young artist Carla Cascales Alimbau.
The festival’s closing event also featured a panel discussion entitled “Living to the End”, moderated by journalist Marta Cáceres, which included speakers from the worlds of cinema, art therapy and palliative care.
Fernando Trullols, first assistant director on the film A Monster Calls, discussed his experience working on this film with J.A. Bayona. Dr Vinita Mahtani, physician and researcher for the Research Institute at the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital and Primary Care Management of Tenerife, discussed the value of transforming scientific results into artistic/creative formats. Lastly, Dr Jordi Trelis, medical director at the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS) and director of Palliative Care for the ICO-ICS Cancer Network, reminded us of the importance of palliative care for people in the final stages of life.
A compilation of all the information related to the event was prepared in an E-Book format that you can consult here.
1st edition of the WeCare Festival: Living to the End video
You can find the program of the event in the following link.
WeCare Festival Summary
Wecare Festival Press Release – ABC