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FESTIVALS Portugal

Long Distance to open FEST in Espinho

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- The festival has announced its programme, which is focused exclusively on first and second works

Long Distance to open FEST in Espinho
Long Distance by Carlos Marques Marcet

Yesterday, FEST – New Directors New Films presented its programme of fiction features and documentaries that will be competing in the 11th edition of the cinematic gathering in the city of Espinho. The selection is chiefly European and is focused on first and second works that have already been screened at other international festivals – particularly at Rotterdam – but which are now being presented in Portugal for the first time. The organisers describe this edition as “the strongest” held by the festival so far.

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There are ten fiction features in the running for the Golden Lynx, and Spanish cinema will have the honour of opening the event, with Long Distance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile
]
. The highly acclaimed portrait of a couple trying to overcome the distance that separates them thanks to new technologies, directed by Catalan filmmaker Carlos Marques Marcet, earned its director the Best New Director Award at the most recent edition of the Goya Awards and looks certain not to leave the Espinho audience indifferent. Also rocking up from Spain, and specifically from Catalonia, is The Long Way Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergi Pérez
film profile
]
by Sergi Pérez, in which actor Borja Espinosa takes a visceral wander around a washed-out Barcelona in order to save his dog (and perhaps himself as well?). Another Spaniard, Miguel Llansó, will present Crumbs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a dystopian journey into a post-apocalyptic Ethiopia.

The selection of the fiction section is rounded off by six titles hailing from Europe and one Asian production. From Belgium comes Violet [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, an experimental and sensory work by Flemish director Bas Devos, from Hungary we have For Some Inexplicable Reason [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Gabor Reisz, from Romania Self-Portrait of a Dutiful Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Ana Lungu, from Georgia Line of Credit [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Salome Alexi, from Bulgaria Maya Vitkova’s Viktoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maya Vitkova
film profile
]
, from Albania Bota [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iris Elezi
film profile
]
by Iris Elizi and Thomas Logoreci, and from the Philippines Transit by Hannah Espia.

Four titles are duking it out in competition in the documentary section, beginning with Matrimania by a former participant in FEST – Training Ground, Maximilien Van Aertryck, and his co-director Vincent Bitaud. The movie examines the marriage rituals of the upper classes of Hindu society. Um ghayeb: Mother of the Unborn, by Nadine Salib, focuses on the way infertile women are treated in Egypt. In Jikoo, a Wish, French filmmakers Christophe Leroy and Adrien Camus depict the struggle undertaken by a rural community in Senegal to protect their land from invasion by wild animals. And lastly, in Dancing with Maria, director Ivan Gergolet introduces us to a 90-year-old dance teacher.

In addition to screening films, FEST is also an event that is committed to training, through two parallel events, FEST Training Ground and FEST Pitching Forum. Featuring among the various trainers this year are Fernando Trueba, Barney Pilling, Guillermo Navarro, Steven Noble, Peter Doyle and Eddy Joseph (read more).

Save the date: Espinho from 22-29 June.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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