The Seminci festival was held from October 20th to 27th in Valladolid. There was a rich and varied programme, with 70 feature films and 50 short films competing in various categories (official selection, Spanish documentary, climate change, young audience, etc.). The jury of the official selection was chaired by Portuguese film-maker Miguel Gomes, director of Tabou and the triptych The Arabian Nights.
Todo por ver (Textos trazados)
Now celebrating its 63rd year, the festival opened with the world premiere of Miguel Angel Vivas’thriller, Tu Hijo, which was also in the official competition alongside Nicholas Pacheco’s Jaulas, Paolo Virzi’s Magical Nights and Matteo Garone’s Dogman, which opens in Spanish cinemas on November 9th. The festival is dedicated to auteur cinema.
Retrospectives enabled audiences to discover or rediscover films on the big screen. Among them, a selection of 21 American films from the 1990’s, a retrospective of 21st century Portuguese cinema and another look at the work of the Iranian film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof. Spanish cinema was well represented too, with 71 Spanish productions shown during the festival week. The organisers also wanted the Young Audience category to stand out, screening 17 films. The director of that category, Javier Angulo, said the festival wanted to give young viewers “an appetite to see films on the big screen.”
There were various events for professionals. To name just two: a meeting of Spanish women producers, with about thirty participants; and a meeting between directors and distributors to find an outlet for the 22 films in the festival which do not have one.
On October 27th another world premiere closed the festival: Head Full Of Honey by German director Til Schweiger, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Matt Dillon.
The winner of the Valladolid International Film Festival was Canada’s Philippe Lesage, who won the most prestigious award, the Golden Spike, for his film Genèse. He also won the Best Director Award and his actor, Theodore Pellerin, won Best Actor.
The complete list of winners can be found here: http://seminci.es/en/genese-by-the-canadian-philippe-lesage-wins-the-golden-spike/
Sources: https://www.elnortedecastilla.es, www.spain.info/fr
