The popular actors Susan Sarandon and Omar Sy and the director François Ozon have confirmed their presence as guest stars at the seventh edition of the Barcelona Sant Jordi International Film Festival, which will kick off on April 20 precisely with the new work by the French director, My crime. Ozon will go to the Catalan capital accompanied by the protagonists of this comedy in the key of a thriller, Nadia Tereszkiewicz -winner of the César for Best New Actress for La gran juventud- and Rebecca Marder, recently seen as the young Simone Veil from Simone, the woman of the century.
Sarandon will come to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the premiere of Thelma and Louise, one of the most important films in the career of the American interpreter, and will hold a discussion with the public after the screening of the mythical Ridley Scott film that unveiled a young Brad Pitt. “The BCN Film Fest wants to be a local festival that allows the public to interact with the guests”, the director of the event, Conxita Casanovas, stated this morning in a meeting with a small group of press.
Omar Sy, known to the general public thanks to his role in the cult film Untouchable, will also be in Barcelona to present Father and Soldier, a war drama set in World War I. British actress Penelope Wilton, star of titles such as Calendar Girls or Downtown Abbey, will present Harold Fry’s Unusual Pilgrimage, in which she stars alongside Jim Broadbent.
These presences are added to the already announced presence of veteran German director Wim Wenders, this year’s Honor Award, who will also open an exhibition with some thirty photographs of his filming. The BCN Film Fest program will have a total of 70 titles distributed among the eight sections of the contest. There will be 21 world premieres, two international, 17 Spanish and 11 Catalan. Among the new films in the official section, Casanovas has commented The Colors of the Fire, adaptation of the novel by Pierre Lemaitre; A bit of light, a drama about alcoholism, motherhood and redemption with Oscar winner Anna Paquin leading the cast; Rebel, by the film duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, an action thriller about the Syrian war and its aftermath and The Lost King, a dramatic comedy by Stephen Frears.
Out of competition, they will screen La manzana de oro, by Jaime Chávarri; The Bounty Hunter, a western with Christoph Waltz and Willem Defoe; The Cyclades: Girlfriends Getaway, a fun comedy about friendship; Waiting for Dalí, a romantic comedy where avant-garde gastronomy mixes with the surreal Cadaqués of the seventies, and Beau is afraid, the long-awaited new film by Ari Aster, creator of Hereditary and Midsommar, with Joaquin Phoenix.
From the art in cinema section are Frida Kahlo, by Ali Ray; Elizabeth II: Portrait of a Queen, directed by Fabrizio Ferri, and Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman, also by Ray.
