14/05/2012 - The former director of the Gijón Film Festival will now manage the European cinema event, whose next edition will be held this November

Last Friday, José Luis Cienfuegos put an end to all rumours by being officially presented as the new director of the Sevilla European Film Festival. After his turbulent exit from the Gijón International Film Festival (read more), where he had been director since 1995, Cienfuegos is now taking on what he describes as a “stimulating challenge”, in which he has set himself the targets of bringing the Sevilla Film Festival closer to the public and defending European auteur cinema.

With a confirmed budget of €950,000 (much less than the €1.4m budget four years ago), Sevilla’s festival aims to remain the “capital of European cinema”, according to Cienfuegos, who said that achieving this would require “sound judgement, rigor, and sobriety”.

“One of the keys to a festival’s success is its specialisation and Sevilla’s strength lies in its fanatical defence of European cinema,” said Cienfuegos, who will be both producer and artistic director of the festival. “Sevilla has to turn itself into a space to defend European auteur films and a place for the industry and audiences to meet each other.”

As for the programme, the new director said: “It’s still too early to discuss countries invited, but I do already know that the festival will be as approachable as possible, with many parallel activities and as many visiting directors as possible. I also want to boost the Europa Junior section, because they are our future audiences.”

The 2012 edition of the Sevilla European Film Festival will be held this November.

(Translated from Spanish)