10/03/2023 - The ninth edition of the versatile festival will unspool from 10-19 March in Oviedo, featuring unique highlights such as Jota from Los Planetas paying tribute to Iván Zulueta

An image from Plena Pausa, the project by musician Jota (frontman of the group Los Planetas), which sets the film archive of cult director Iván Zulueta to music

As stated one year ago by its director, Pablo de María, to this very publication: “What we’re interested in is stripping artistic offerings of their context in order to lend them a different form” (see the interview). Thus, SACO will be championing transformation, courageousness and the kinship between film and other art forms between 10 and 19 March.

As it happens, Niño de Elche (the protagonist of the documentary Cosmic Chant. Niño de Elche [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leire Apellaniz and Marc Se…
film profile]) will open the ninth edition of the Oviedo-based festival, putting his vocal cords to good use to enhance two classics of cinema: Un chien andalou (1929) by Spanish maestro Luis Buñuel and The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) by French experimental artist Germaine Dulac.

“Buñuel has always been a character who has grabbed my attention, and he’s always been fair game when it comes to being hacked. He and Dulac are two very unorthodox figures, and these two films have something sadistic and erotically or sexually perverse about them, which will be reflected in the performance. Surrealism lets you get away with anything,” states the artist. The Buñuel film that will be screened at SACO is a copy that has been restored by the Filmoteca Española.

The unclassifiable and immensely varied programme of the new Oviedo Contemporary Audiovisual Week (organised by the Municipal Culture Foundation) also includes Plena Pausa, a project by musician Jota, the frontman of the group Los Planetas, setting the film archive of cult director Iván Zulueta to music. The Granada-born musician wanted to breathe new life into the cinematographic material by the late filmmaker that has been salvaged by the Filmoteca Española – “One of the most powerful personal archives in the context of the cinema of the second half of the 20^th century,” in his words. On this occasion, he delved into the plethora of films shot by Zulueta in the 1960s and 1970s, which are not limited to the cult flick Rapture (1980), but rather abound in Super 8 recordings made on the spur of the moment. He has also rifled through personal documents, drawings and Polaroids that bear witness to his trips to Berlin, New York, Morocco and Ibiza.

The festival also includes the premiere of La carpa de Francis by the Teatro del Cuervo, a show for all audiences about the beginnings of cinema; and it is joining forces with CIMCO (the Oviedo Interdisciplinary Cycle of Chamber Music) to present Les Aventures de Monsieur Jules, with pianist Albert Guinovart, quintet Spanish Brass and visual artist Cristina Busto.

Furthermore, the group Señor Serrano is returning to SACO with The Mountain, an uncharted and unguided exploration of the myth of truth. The gathering will be presenting the world premiere of El gabinete del doctor Caligari bajo la mirada del CONSMUPA, a SACO production in conjunction with the Higher Conservatory of Music. The highly original event will also play host to five live film concerts and a stage production, three of which are world premieres, while two others are performances that will introduce new formats to Oviedo.

(Translated from Spanish)