The controversy over the absence of VÃctor Erice at the world premiere of his film Closing Your Eyes at the Cannes Film Festival has given rise to much talk in recent hours. Although at first it was said that the veteran director – who won the Jury prize for El sol del quince here 30 years ago – could not attend for “personal reasons”, this Wednesday he published an open letter in the newspaper El PaÃs in the one that specifies the true reasons for his decision, which were communicated on April 28 by letter to the general delegate Thierry Frémaux.
According to Erice, he regrets the lack of dialogue on the part of Frémaux, who he asked whether or not his film was going to be in the competition in order to decide whether to accept the invitation of the festival’s Fortnight of Filmmakers to open this parallel section in Cannes. But the general delegate never answered, as Erice specifies in his letter.
And that lack of dialogue is what prompted him not to attend the official presentation last Monday at the Debussy theater. A screening that was attended by the actors Ana Torrent, José Coronado, Manolo Solo, MarÃa León and Helena Miquel and which was received with a standing ovation that moved everyone present.
The filmmaker dismisses as “false” that his film could not have participated in the contest because “he had not finished his fourth feature film until just a few days ago,” according to the contest. The response from the Cannes Film Festival has not been long in coming and, in a brief statement, it has been “surprised” by the statements by the director of El sur about the problems in the selection process of his film for this year’s edition.
“The selection of the film Cerrar los ojos, by VÃctor Erice, took place under the usual conditions and the director was notified of the invitation to include his film in the Official Selection on April 12,” they indicate. That is one day before the press conference in which the programming of this edition was announced, which was the act in which Erice says she found out in which section of the festival her film would participate, which has been a Cannes Premiere, one of those listed out of competition.
“From the beginning, the dialogue has been permanent between Thierry Frémaux and Christian Jeune, as well as with the Spanish production company and the French distributor. And Thierry Frémaux has maintained personal contact with VÃctor Erice,” adds the festival.
