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SEMINCI 2016

The projectors are warming up in Valladolid for the 61st Seminci Festival

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- Valladolid is getting its glad rags on for its annual celebration of film, bookended this year by Miguel del Arco first venture into the world of cinema and the latest film by Philippe Lioret

The projectors are warming up in Valladolid for the 61st Seminci Festival
The Furies by Miguel del Arco

The Furies [+see also:
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]
, the hotly-anticipated directorial debut from Spain’s star-of-the-moment theatre director, Miguel del Arco, will officially open the 61st edition of Seminci. The event will run until 29 October, when French director Philippe Lioret will crown off Valladolid’s renowned international festival of art house cinema with his newest film, A Kid [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
. Del Arco’s compatriot, Alberto Morais, will also be competing in the official section with The Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Morais
film profile
]
, a Franco-Romanian co-production first shown at the latest Toronto International Film Festival.

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Other worthy contenders include: Kleber Mendonça Filho with Aquarius [+see also:
film review
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]
(a joint production between the director’s native Brazil and France); Argentine duo Duprat and Cohn with The Distinguished Citizen [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
(Spain/Argentina); Asghar Farhadi with The Salesman [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
(France/Iran); Mohamed Ben Attia with Hedi [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
(Tunisia/Belgium/France/Qatar/UAE); Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth with The King of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jessica Woodworth, Peter Br…
film profile
]
(Belgium/The Netherlands/Bulgaria); Paolo Virzi with Like Crazy [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Paolo Virzì
film profile
]
(Italy/France); Anne Fontaine with The Innocent [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile
]
(France/Polond); and Katell Quillévéré with Heal the Living [+see also:
film review
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interview: Katell Quillévéré
film profile
]
(France/Belgium).

Running in parallel with the official competition, the inspiration-packed Meeting Point section will offer a selection of 14 fictional films, each a first or second directorial effort and each vying for a €15,000 prize for the best feature. The selection includes By the Time it Gets Dark [+see also:
trailer
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]
(a co-production between Thailand, Qatar, France and the Benelux countries), by Anocha Suwichakornpong; Blessed Benefit [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Qatar/Germany/Jordan/the Netherlands), directed by Mahmoud al Massad; Junction 48 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Israel/Germany/USA), by Udi Aloni; Marija [+see also:
film review
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interview: Michael Koch
film profile
]
(Germany/Switzerland), by Michael Koch; My First Highway [+see also:
film review
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film profile
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(Belgium), by Kevin Meul; Quit Looking at My Plate [+see also:
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interview: Hana Jušić
film profile
]
(Croatia/Denmark), by Hana Jüsic; White Sun [+see also:
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(Nepal/USA/Qatar/the Netherlands), by Deepak Rauniyar and Tramontane [+see also:
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]
(Lebanon/France/UAE/Qatar), the début feature from Vatche Boulghourjian.

Three Spanish films will be pitted against one other in the documentary section, Time of History: Contra la impunidad, by Iñaki Arteta;Dancing Beethoven, by Arantxa Aguirre;and The Last Summer [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
, from new director Leire Apellaniz. There are a few strong Polish titles too, with Zud [+see also:
trailer
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]
, directed by Marta Minorowicz; 21 X New York [+see also:
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]
, from Piotr Stasik; and Alisa in Warland, by Liubov Durakova and Alisa Kovalenko. One German film (Matthias Kossmehl’s Café Waldluft),one Italian (Between Sisters, by Manu Gerosa)and one Romanian (Hotel Dallas [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
,from husband-and-wife team Sherng-Lee Huang and Livia Ungur) will also be competing in this section.

The illustrious Geraldine Chaplin (who makes a brief appearance in the successful A Monster Calls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juan Antonio Bayona
film profile
]
), Valladolid filmmaker Francisco Regueiro and the former director of Filmoteca Española, Chema Prado, will be presented with the prestigious Seminci Golden Spike. The Festival will also pay tribute to the late Abbas Kiarostami with a retrospective set to open with a screening of Seifollah Samadian’s documentary, 76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Kiarostami.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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