05/10/2018 - From 5-14 October, the 23rd Cinespaña Festival will treat audiences to 118 top-notch Spanish films, and Álex de la Iglesia and Barbara Lennie will be in the limelight

The 23^rd edition of Cinespaña will tonight be opened by two films – namely, The Motive [+see also:
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interview: Manuel Martín Cuenca
film profile] by Manuel Martin Cuenca and Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle [+see also:
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interview: Gustavo Salmerón
film profile] by Gustavo Salmerón. From 5-14 October, the festival will unspool in Toulouse, offering an exceedingly broad overview of the crème de la crème of current Spanish film output, with 118 movies getting an airing (76 of which are features).

Two of the seven fiction features duking it out for the 2018 Golden Violet are rocking up straight from San Sebastián: the excellent Quién te cantará [+see also:
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interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile] by Carlos Vermut (which will be released in France on 24 October by Le Pacte) and The Deer [+see also:
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interview: Koldo Almandoz
film profile] by Koldo Almandoz (revealed in the New Directors section). Other titles set to lock horns include Carmen & Lola [+see also:
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interview: Arantxa Echevarría
film profile] by Arantxa Echevarría (a feature debut unveiled in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, which will be released in France on 14 November by Eurozoom), the spellbinding Sunday’s Illness [+see also:
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interview: Ramón Salazar
film profile] by Ramón Salazar (the real revelation of the Berlinale Panorama and now available to view on Netflix), Distances [+see also:
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interview: Elena Trapé
film profile] by Elena Trapé (Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at Malaga last April), Thirty Souls [+see also:
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interview: Diana Toucedo
film profile] by Diana Toucedo (which also caused a stir in the Berlinale Panorama) and the inventive feature debut by Sergi Portabella, Jean-François and the Meaning of Life [+see also:
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film profile].

Nor is the competitive New Directors section lacking in suitable attractions, particularly with Journey to a Mother’s Room [+see also:
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interview: Celia Rico Clavellino
film profile] by Celia Rico Clavellino (Special Mention in the New Directors competition at San Sebastián and due to be released in Spanish theatres today), Ana by Day [+see also:
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film profile] by Andrea Jaurrieta (revealed in competition at Malaga), Dhogs [+see also:
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film profile] by Andrés Goteira (which was premiered at BAFICI), Formentera Lady [+see also:
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film profile] by Pau Durà (which took part in Cinema Jove in Valencia), Killing God [+see also:
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film profile] by Caye Casas and Albert Pintó (Audience Award at Sitges) and three movies unveiled at Seville last year: The Wild Season [+see also:
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film profile] by Anxos Fazáns, Undergrowth [+see also:
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film profile] by David Gutiérrez Camps and Anchor and Hope [+see also:
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interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile] by Carlos Marques-Marcet.

Also of note is a competition for documentaries that will gather together six features, five of which are helmed by women: See You Tomorrow God Willing [+see also:
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film profile] by Ainara Vera, Hayati (mi vida) by Sofi Escudé and Liliana Torres, Lo que dirán by Nila Núñez Urgell, Rêve de mousse by Elena Molina and Ta acorda ba tu el Filipinas? by Sally Gutiérrez. They are joined by Alberto García-Alix. La línea de sombra [+see also:
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interview: Nicolás Combarro
film profile] by Nicolás Combarro.

The jam-packed Cinespaña programme is rounded off by a Panorama that includes three preview screenings, with the animated movie Another Day of Life [+see also:
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interview: Raul de la Fuente
film profile] by Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow (revealed at Cannes), the Venice title A Twelve-Year Night [+see also:
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interview: Álvaro Brechner
film profile] by Álvaro Brechner and The Bookshop [+see also:
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film profile] by Isabel Coixet (which took part in the Berlinale), as well as an overview of 15 recent fiction features and four documentaries.

Worth highlighting amongst the myriad events on the agenda are chats with Álex de la Iglesia (eight of his films and a three-title carte blanche will be presented as part of a sidebar on Spanish black comedy, and de la Iglesia will be joined in Toulouse by screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarría) and actress Barbara Lennie (whose career has been skyrocketing ever since Magical Girl [+see also:
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interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile], and who was popular in the recent movies Sunday’s Illness, Everybody Knows [+see also:
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film profile], Petra [+see also:
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interview: Jaime Rosales
film profile] and The Realm [+see also:
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interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel P…
film profile]), a conference led by documentarian José Luis Guerín and a round-table on the new wave of young Galician directors (featuring filmmaker Oliver Laxe, among others).

(Translated from French)