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LOCARNO 2006 Spain

Marc Recha leads Catalan contingent

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Dies d'Agost [+see also:
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by indie Catalan filmmaker Marc Recha and El Benny by Cuba-born director Jorge Luis Sánchez are the two Spanish productions screening in the International Competition of the 2006 Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12), an edition which will also be remembered for some of its impressive Catalan-driven choices.

Competing for the Golden Leopard, El Benny is a film based on the life of legendary singer and composer Benny Moré, who died in 1963 at the age of 44. Reny Arozarena plays Moré in a film in which reaching authenticity was, according to Sánchez, "a challenge and a risk". El Benny is a Cuban/Spanish/UK title produced by ICAIC in collaboration with Igeldo Komunikazioa and Coral Capital Entertainment.

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Far from the biopic genre is Dies d'Agost, the second local title in competition, which marks the return of Recha, one of the most radical voices of the current Catalan film scene.

Three years after Where is Madame Catherine? (see interview), Recha's new film is the story of a man obsessed with the disappearance of a friend. He decides to go in search of him and takes his brother along. The trip will present both of them with some contradictory and previously inexperienced feelings, to simultaneously become a journey to a part of Spain’s history that is often denied.

Dies d'Agost was produced by Barcelona-based outfit Benecé Producciones, in co-production with Televisió de Catalunya.

The line-up of the section Cinéastes du Présent includes Julio D. Wallovits' The Chair. The Argentinean-born director, who shared the Goya for Best New Director in 2003 with Roger Gual for the acclaimed Smoking Room, has now made his first solo feature, a tale about a dissatisfied middle-aged man who decides to rebuild his life.

The film was also produced by Catalonian production company Eddie Saeta and international sales are being handled by arthouse distributor and sales agent Notro Films.

If these latest two titles weren't enough of a glimpse at some of the latest Catalan productions, the festival is also organising a separate section entitled Catalan Focus, which will screen six other titles: Roger Gual's Remake [+see also:
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film profile
]
(production: Ovideo TV), Jo Sol's El taxista ful (Zip Films), Isaki Lacuesta's docudrama The Legend of Time (read interview), Adan Aliaga's La casa de mi abuela (Salto de Eje) and two short films: El Cerco by Ricardo Íscar and Nacho Martín (CECC) and Bitter Kas by Eduard Grau (Escándalo Films).

This special focus is part of the 20th anniversary of Catalan Films & TV, a consortium aimed at enhancing and promoting Catalan audiovisual production. Locarno is hosting the promotional campaign after two similar ones already took place at the Karlovy Vary and Mar de Plata (Argentina) Film Festivals.

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