The Abycine - Albacete International Film Festival will celebrate its 27th edition from 21-30 October (see the news), with one of its main pillars being the tenth anniversary of Abycine Lanza, the independent film forum that has cemented itself as a benchmark event in Spain. This is borne out by the latest call for grants from the Spanish Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) intended for festival organisation, which hails it as the best industry area among Spanish festivals, citing “its track record and coherence, international openness, the project’s financial robustness and its contribution to the audiovisual industry”.

Abycine Lanza will bring together more than 300 professionals between 21 and 24 October, hailing from Spain, Poland, Portugal, France, Germany and the UK. New features include the first Zona Corto PRO, with two competitive calls: the RTVE Abycine Talent Award for Best Short-film Project (with €15,000 towards production) and the 14th Short-film Production Support Competition on Human Rights, which is being incorporated into Lanza for the first time.

Professionals attending will represent institutions and companies such as the ICAA, Acción Cultural Española, Creative Europe - MEDIA, RTVE, CMM, Filmin and Movistar Plus+, among others, alongside around 30 independent producers and distributors, plus representatives from festivals including Málaga, the Berlinale, Locarno, Porto and D’A Barcelona. Among the tenth-anniversary activities is a round-table with filmmakers who have taken part in previous editions, reflecting on how independent cinema and the market have evolved over this period.

Abycine Lanza will again feature its Impulso – WIP section, in which the festival provides the support needed to fully flesh out independent features at the work-in-progress stage and take them to market. Projects are in the running for the Impulso Lanza post-production grant (€7,000), the Filmin Abycine WIP Award (for exhibition and distribution in cinemas and online in Spain and Portugal, valued at €22,000), and the MAFIZ Work in Progress Prize (participation in the industry area of the next Málaga Film Festival, with a chance to win one of its awards). This strand spotlights new titles by filmmakers such as Costa Rica’s Valentina Maurel (the multi-award-winning I Have Electric Dreams [+lire aussi :
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interview : Valentina Maurel
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Also returning is the Impulso CMM Development section, where selected projects will compete for various forms of support, including two grants from CMM (totalling €34,500 for production), the ECAM Forum Award (for participation in its next edition), the Porto/Post/Doc Award (for inclusion in its industry programme), the Music Library & SFX Award (consultancy plus rights to use materials from its platform), and other collaborations and incentives such as access to investors to raise finance.

The selected feature-film projects are as follows:

Impulso CMM Development

Somewhere Else – Juan Albarracín (Spain)
Production: Filmamento Audiovisual

Singular Entities – Adán Aliaga (Spain)
Production: Nadir Films

Nora and the Lady of the Mountain – Uxue Artetxe (Spain)
Production: Uniko

Of My Mother – Nerea Barros (Spain)
Production: Colera Films, Zeitun Films

The Stray Dove – Enrique Buleo (Spain)
Production: Cabiria Film Media

Sons of the Land – Júlia de Paz Solvas (Spain)
Production: WKND, Dos Soles Media

Llabores de extinción – Diego Flórez (Spain)
Production: Luis Aceituno, Lara González Lobo

Identikit – Julián Génisson (Spain/France)
Production: Umbracle Cine, Materia Cinema, La Fabrica Nocturna Cinéma

The Sleepers – Dídac Gimeno (Spain)
Production: DarkStudios

Paradise City – Francesc Gómez (Spain)
Production: Kaito Films, La Perifèrica Produccions, Love Our Films Media

Raqueros – Daniel González Catalina (Spain)
Production: Wip.Mov

Air Plants – Inbar Horesh (Spain)
Production: LaZona

Paradise – Marta Lallana García (Spain)
Production: Vampire Films

Maya – Sonia Martí Gallego (Spain)
Production: Debut Films, Pecado Films

Those Who Won’t Leave – Ana Pérez de la Fuente (Spain)
Production: Solita Films

Outcome – Ainara Vera (Spain)
Production: Edna Cinema

The Burrow – Frank Lucas (Spain) (project participating through a collaboration with the Atlántida Film Fest)
Production: Japonica Films

The Saint I Dressed – María Monreal (Spain) (project linked to Zineuskadi’s NOKA programme)
Production: Cambur Producciones

Pajarracos – Zaira Zanguitu (Spain) (project linked to Zineuskadi’s NOKA programme)
Production: Señor y Señora

Konbini – Pedro Collantes (Spain/Japan) (guest project)
Production: Aquí y Allí Films, 3040 Cine, Culture Entertainment

Solo – Mikel Rueda (Spain) (guest project)
Production: Aterpe Films

The Iron Woman – Nacho Ruipérez (Spain) (guest project)
Production: Ochovideos

Impulso – WIP

Future Fog – María Abenia (Spain)
Production: MamaFilms

Los relatos – Miguel del Arco (Spain/Romania)
Production: Aquí y Allí Films, 3040 Cine, Avanpost

Pretty Shitty World – Yayo Herrero (Spain)
Production: Bro Cinema

Nobody Knows that Today We Play – Valentina Maurel and Felipe Zúñiga (Costa Rica/Spain)
Production: Malvalanda

Taranta – Samuel Nacar Puentes (Spain)
Production: Verbena Films, Sarao Films

The Last Ray – Juan Palacios (Spain/Netherlands)
Production: 15L Films, Txintxua Films, Revolver Amsterdam

At Dawn You Were Gone – Pedro Sara Vila (Spain)
Production: Pitipa Investments, 24 Posibilidades Por Segundo