Preferably European cinema, films aspiring to the Oscars, films by new authors and the latest works by directors who have won awards in previous editions outline the Official Section of the 67th Valladolid International Film Week (Seminci), which will open on October 22 with a Spanish film .
Don’t look into the eyes, an adaptation by Félix Viscarret of a novel by Juan José Millás, will premiere the main competitive section of the Valladolid festival: twenty-one films from eighteen different nationalities, three of them out of competition, sources from the Seminci.
In addition to the Spaniards Félix Viscarret and Jaime Chávarri, the latter with a new feature film after seventeen years of silence (“The Golden Apple”), Hispanic-American cinema will compete for the Golden Spike with “Clementina”, the first fiction feature film and premiere European of the Argentines Constanza Feldman and Agustín Mendihalarzu.
Also in contention are films recently honored at other festivals, such as the case of South Korean Park Chan-wook, who will do so with “Decision to leave”, honored at Cannes with the award for the smallest director; and the Indonesian Kamila Andini, who will present “Before, now
Also on that list of distinguished artists is the Belgian Felix van Groeningen, who together with the actress Charlotte Vandermeersch, will defend “The Eight Mountains”, the last Jury Prize at Cannes; while the French Mikhaël Hers will wield “The Night Passengers” and the Chinese Li Ruijun will do the same with “Return to dust”, films selected at the last Berlinale.
In addition to the Argentinian “Clementina”, seven titles in the official section are by new authors: “Alma viva”, debut feature by the French of Portuguese origin Cristèle Alves Meira; “The quiet girl”, the first feature film by Irishman Colm Bairéad; “Beautiful beings”, the second album by the Icelandic Guodmundur Arnbar Guomundsson; and “Falcon lake”, with which Canadian Charlotte Le Bon makes her debut.
The three remaining titles in that section are “Nothing”, by the Danes Trine Piil and Seamus MacNally; “Pamfir”, the first foray into the length of the Ukrainian Dmtryo Sukholytyy-Sobchuk; and “The Blue Caftan”, by the Moroccan Maryam Touzani.
Apart from Touzani, award-winning filmmakers in previous editions will return to Valladolid, also with their sights set on the Golden Spike, such as the Swedish Tarik Saleh, now with “Boy from heaven”; the Iranian Jafar Panahi, who will premiere “No bears” at Seminci, deserving of the special jury prize at the Mostra; and the Polish Jerzy Skolimowsky, with “EO”, distinguished in Cannes with the same award.
Finally, out of competition, they will participate in this Official Section “Souls in pain in Inisherin”, by the British Martin MacDonagh and for which Colin Farrell won the Volpi Cup for best actor at the last Venice Film Festival; and “L’Inmmensità”, by the Italian Emanule Crialese and starring Penélope Cruz; and a third film, yet to be announced, which will close the 67th Seminci on October 29.
Five of the selected feature films aspire to the Golden Spike in Valladolid have also been selected by their respective countries for the 2023 Oscars: Ireland (“The quiet girl”), Poland (“EO”), Portugal (“Alma viva”) , Sweden (“Boy from heaven”) and Iceland (“Beautiful beings”).
The Valladolid festival, which this year has Ireland as the guest country, will dedicate two cycles to Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) and Juan Antonio Bardem (1922-2002), and will show a documentary about the actor José Luis López Vázquez (1922 -2009), in all three cases on the occasion of their respective centenaries.
The Seminci annual exhibition will feature the filmmaker Bigas Luna (1946-2013) with a monographic sampler on “Jamón, Jamón” (1992), one of his reference films and which introduced Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Jordi Molla.
The filmmaker Chema Sarmiento will receive a Spike of Honor on October 24, Castile and León Cinema and Audiovisual Day, the organization will publish the book “A viva voz. Juan Antonio Bardem from A to Z”, and Jaime Chávarri will present in the Official Section “The Golden Apple”, his return to cinema after seventeen years
