16/11/2023 - The annual event is set to kick off this week, and will present director Miguel Gomes, cinematographer Agnès Godard and actress Lilián de Celis with honorary awards

The 61st Gijón International Film Festival (FICX), which runs from 17-25 November, is about to get under way. The Spanish gathering is once again asserting its support for the best of independent cinema, be it national or international. The festival will open on Friday 17 November with a gala where FICX will honour the careers of director Miguel Gomes and cinematographer Agnès Godard with Awards of Honor, and that of Asturian actress Lilián de Celis with the Isaac del Rivero Award. The ceremony will be followed by the world premiere of Lobo by Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas, co-written by and starring Marian Álvarez.

The festival’s official selection is divided into three parts: Retueyos, for first, second and third films; Albar, which includes established names; and Tierres en Trance, for Ibero-American flicks. A total of 76 Spanish movies will be screened at this year’s event, ten of them in the Official Selection. Three Asturian titles will have their world premieres at Gijón: the post-industrial memory film El Cine, 5 [+see also:
film review
interview: Elisa Cepedal
film profile] by Elisa Cepedal; Los últimos pastores [+see also:
film review
film profile], where director Samu Fuentes tackles life and extinction (both showing in Retueyos); and Celia Viada Caso’s Gregoria, in the Official Short Film Section. Another world premiere in competition is Los restos del pasar [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Luis Soto Muñoz and Alfredo Picazo, in Tierres en Trance.

The Albar strand, for established names in contemporary cinema, includes festival favourites such as the new works by Gijón regular Hong Sang-soo (In Our Day and In Water), Radu Jude’s Locarno Special Jury Prize winner Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile], Lisandro Alonso’s tripartite feat Eureka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lisandro Alonso
film profile] and French filmmaker Catherine Breillat’s Cannes offering Last Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Breillat
film profile]. Also representing France is Catherine Corsini, who scooped a Special Jury Mention at the festival’s 59th edition for The Divide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Corsini
film profile], and is now back with her latest, Homecoming [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Corsini
interview: Suzy Bemba
film profile]. Additionally, Philippe Garrel’s The Plough [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] will have its Spanish premiere after winning the Silver Bear at Berlin earlier this year, and hailing from Venice, Fien Troch presents Holly [+see also:
film review
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interview: Fien Troch
film profile], a supernatural story about a young woman and her suspected magical powers. Bulgarian filmmaker Stefan Komandarev will also show his three-fold Karlovy Vary winner, Blaga’s Lessons [+see also:
film review
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile], to the audience in Gijón.

Playing out of competition in the Albar selection is Baltimore [+see also:
interview: Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor
film profile], the latest outing by Irish filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. The works of Molloy and Lawlor are also part of the festival’s Focus this year, together with those of Spanish actress and director Elena Martín Gimeno.

For Retueyos, in addition to Los últimos pastores and El Cine, 5, French filmmaker of Georgian descent Marie Amachoukeli will present her solo directorial debut, Àma Gloria [+see also:
film review
interview: Marie Amachoukeli
film profile], which opened this year’s Critics’ Week. Joining this touching story is another feature exploring one’s origins, A House for Wandering Souls, the debut by Galicia’s Pablo Lago Dantas. Some films in the competition present a political outlook on life, such as De Facto [+see also:
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film profile] by Selma Doborac and Andrei Tănase’s Day of the Tiger [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Andrei Tănase
film profile]. Other titles that have eagerly been awaiting their Spanish premieres after a successful festival run are Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elene Naveriani
film profile] by Elene Naveriani, the dazzling animation Chicken for Linda! [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, and Locals by Måns Nyman.

As part of Tierres en Trance, Venezuela’s Iván Andrés Simonovis Pertíñez will show his debut film, a documentary-thriller named La prisión de mi padre. Other debuts in this strand include Á Procura da Estrela by Carlos Martínez-Peñalver Mas, a film about a Galician sound recordist in search of sounds of the past, and Calls from Moscow [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a story about four queer exiles seeking political asylum by Luis Alejandro Yero. Argentinian filmmaker María Aparicio will present her third feature, Las Cosas Indefinidas, previously screened at FIDMarseille, alongside Légua [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Filipa Reis, João Miller Gu…
film profile] by Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra, Las demás by Alexandra Hyland and Muertes y maravillas by Diego Soto.

You can find the full festival programme here.