11/07/2024 - The director of the Albacete-based indie film festival talks about its Abycine Lanza on the Road initiative, which releases movies on a circuit of peripheral theatres in Spain

Abycine Lanza on the Road is an activity that aims to bring some of the titles that have passed through the Impulso WIP strand of the Abycine festival’s industry section, Abycine Lanza – which are already in their final form as completed films – to cinemas in the entirety of Spain. The objective is to accompany independent Spanish productions during the distribution and exhibition phase, offering them an opportunity to connect with audiences, producers/distributors and movie theatres in a circuit of dark rooms scattered across the country, in towns that have a more restricted film offering, outside of the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona (territories that generally do have a wider and more stable range of titles available). The director of the festival, José Manuel Zamora, takes stock of the first edition, which boosted the exhibition of titles of the likes of Foremost by Night [+see also:
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Cineuropa: This year’s edition of Abycine Lanza on the Road recently wrapped. What would you say were the most notable achievements of this iteration?
José Manuel Zamora: This was the first time we’d set in motion an initiative like this. Thanks to the support of the ICAA’s Next Generation scheme for labs and incubators, we decided to "explore" the visibility of the independent Spanish cinema that we welcome within Abycine Lanza WIP in an almost-finished state, beyond the forum itself. Thus, we opted to offer a circuit of commercial theatres in towns where Spanish indie films can’t easily get a foothold, to work on new digital strategies with production companies and distributors, and finally to glean data on how our films are perceived. We’ve made it so that those films that need their TLC can be exhibited under better conditions.

Undoubtedly, organising a travelling event like Abycine Lanza on the Road must throw up some unique challenges. What were the main obstacles that you faced this year, and how did you overcome them?
It’s not easy at all to coordinate a circuit of commercial movie theatres that have their own dynamics when it comes to the release of a different kind of offering, put together a calendar or define with the distributors how best to use digital marketing tools to access new audiences. Also, trying to stand out among the usual film listings of these theatres proved to be another challenge. In the end, the feedback from the viewers who attended was highly useful; we are going to receive data that we will make available to the ICAA because some interesting patterns can be observed with regard to the films made by independent Spanish creators.

Looking to the future, what novelties or improvements do you plan to implement at the upcoming editions of Abycine Lanza on the Road in order to keep attracting filmmakers and audiences alike?
The challenge is to be able to get another edition up and running. At the moment, there won’t be one in 2024. We are waiting until 2025 to be able to do another one; we are adjusting the scale of the project and, above all, developing it further and making strategic improvements to its visibility. We’d also like to join forces with associations in the sector, particularly ADICINE and Próxima, because they are the ones that are most interested in these kinds of projects. And together with the ICAA and with Spanish industry initiatives, we’ll be exploring a second edition that will address aspects that we have become very familiar with during this experience.

(Translated from Spanish)