28/08/2007

For the first time since 2004 a Spanish film will be competing for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Although in recent years Spanish productions have usually been relegated to sidebar sections this year Jose Luis Guerin will vie for the top award with En la ciudad de Sylvia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] a splash at least as impressive as Alejandro Amenábar's The Sea Inside [+see also:
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film profile] – winner of the Grand Special Jury Prize and the Volpi Cup for Javier Bardem.

Co-produced by Eddie Saeta S.A. with France's Château-Rouge Production (see news), the film stars Pilar López de Ayala (2002 Goya winner for Juana la Loca [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) as the personification of the ideal woman, followed by a man (Xavier Lafitte) throughout the streets of Strasbourg.

The atmosphere of this melancholic film seems to approach Guerin's photo installation Las mujeres que no conocemos (“The Women We Don't Know”), also presented this summer at Venice's Art Biennale. Local theatrical distribution is scheduled for September 14.

Screening out of competition are Rec by Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró, as well as animated title Nocturna, directed by Adrià García and Víctor Maldonado. In the Orizzonti sidebar, Pere Portabella will present The Silence Before Bach and Eduardo Chapero-Jackson will compete with Alumbramiento in the Corto Cortisimo section.