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FESTIVALS Spain

Valladolid’s cash-strapped Seminci kicks off

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Saturday October 22 marked the opening of the 56th edition of Valladolid International Film Festival, better known as Seminci, which, despite severe budget cuts (it will be two days shorter, running until October 29), remains a reference in Spanish and European auteur cinema. The event opened with one of this year’s most outstanding productions: Nanni Moretti’s Italian/French title We Have a Pope [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile
]
.

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Moretti’s film will vie alongside 17 other features for the Golden Spike for Best Film, the top prize in the Official Selection. The festival’s director, journalist Javier Angulo, said that particular emphasis has been placed on the balance between established auteurs and newcomers.

As usual, Spanish cinema will be well represented in the competition, with two debut features: Paula Ortiz’s De tu ventana a la mía [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
[pictured] and Toni Bestard’s The Perfect Stranger; and two co-productions with Argentina: Nicolás Gil Lavedra’s Estela and Gustavo Taretto’s Sidewalls [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
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However, pride of place goes to European cinema, which dominates the section with nine other titles: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s The Kid With a Bike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
(Belgium/France/Italy); Geoffrey Enthoven’s Hasta la Vista! [+see also:
trailer
interview: Geoffrey Enthoven
film profile
]
(Belgium); Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness (Poland/Germany/Canada); Robert Guédiguian’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Guédiguian
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile
]
(France); Xavier Durringer’s The Conquest [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(France); Mika Kaurismäki’s Brothers [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Finland); Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile
]
(UK); Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(France/US/Iran/Lebanon); and John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Michael McDonagh
film profile
]
(Ireland/UK/Argentina).

Honorary Spikes have already been awarded to two important figures in Spanish cinema: actress Maribel Verdú [pictured] and Spanish Film Academy president, producer and distributor Enrique González-Macho, who yesterday emphasised the importance of the Seminci: “Without it, Valladolid wouldn’t be what it is”.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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