28/09/2012 - A great programme and Agnès Jaoui jury president at the Toulouse film festival dedicated to struggling Spanish cinema

The 17th Cinespaña film festival kicks off today in Toulouse, to a backdrop of tension in the Spanish film sector, as it is suffocated by government budget cuts despite its films never having done so well abroad. The French event, to open with Álex de la Iglesia’s As Luck Would Have It [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Álex de la Iglesia
interview: Álex de la Iglesia
film profile] (La chispa de la vida - due to be released in France on December 12 by DistriB Films) and Manuel H Martín’s animation documentary 30 años de oscuridad (lit. “30 years of darkness”), is to highlight a diverse, high-calibre selection of Spanish productions.

Seven fiction feature films will make their French premiere and vie for the Golden Violet to be handed out by a jury presided by Agnès Jaoui: Javier Rebollo’s The Dead Man and Being Happy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (El muerto y ser feliz), recently unveiled in the competition in San Sebastian (read the review), Xavi Puebla ’s A puerta fría (review), Paula Ortiz ’s Chrysalis [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (De tu ventana a la mía - starring Maribel Verdu), Patricia Ferreira’s The Wild Children [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (El nens salvatges - Best Film at Malaga 2012), Adán Aliaga, Carla Subirna, and Abdelatif Hwidar’s surprising Kanimambo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (read more), and David Trueba’s Madrid 1987 [+see also:
trailer
interview: María Valverde
film profile] (screened at the beginning of the year in Sundance), and Imanol Uribe’s Miel de naranjas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Best Director and Best Original Screenplay in Malaga).

Other films to make their French debut include: Jaime Rosales’s Dream and Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaime Rosales
film profile] (discovered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight – review and video interview, due to be released in France by Bodega Films on October 3), Painless [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a European co-production directed by Juan Carlos Medina (that recently premiered in Toronto - read more - to be released in France by DistriB Films on October 10) , Montxo Armendáriz’s Don’t Be Afraid [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Montxo Armendáriz
film profile] (Iberifilms on October 31), Miguel Courtois’s Operación E (EuropaCorp Distribution on November 12), and Mireia Ros’ documentary Barcelona abans que el temps ho esborrt (Iberifilms – no release date yet).

In the Panorama section, the following films stand out: Antonio Chavarrías’s Childish Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (in competition at the 2012 Berlinale - review), Alfonso Sánchez’s low-budget phenomenon El mundo es nuestro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (review), Isabel de Ocampo’s Evelyn [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Gabriel Velázquez’s Iceberg [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (discovered in the competition at Rotterdam - review), Telmo Esnal’s Urte berri on, Amona !, and Pedro Pérez Rosado’s Wilaya [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (screened in the Panorama at the Berlinale - review).

Five feature debuts will screen in the festival’s competitive sections: Paco León’s Carmina o revienta [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (interview), Roberto Pérez Toledo’s Seis puntos sobre Emma [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Imanol Rayo’s Bi Anai (noticed last year in San Sebastian), Ana Rodríguez Rosell’s Buscando a Eimish, and Demian Sabini’s Terrados.

Cinespaña’s diverse menu also includes a retrospective dedicated to filmmaker Isaki Lacuesta and a meeting with chameleon actor Luis Tosar.

(Translated from French)